The Spanish hospital’s baby switch was discovered two decades later

MADRID – Spanish health authorities blame human error for changing two girls in a maternity ward almost 20 years ago, after one of them discovered by chance through a DNA test when she was a teenager that it was not her daughter alleged parents.

“It was a human error and we could not find out who was to blame,” said Sara Alba, head of health in the region of La Rioja in northern Spain.

“The systems back then were different and not as computerized as they are now,” Alba said, assuring that it could not happen again.

The babies were mixed in 2002 after being born five hours apart at a hospital in La Rioja. Both were in incubators because they were born with little weight.

The 19-year-old woman, who first discovered she had been given wrong parents, is demanding compensation of € 3 million ($ 3.5 million) from local health authorities.

Alba, the head of health, spoke after the local newspaper La Rioja published a report on the change on Tuesday.

The other woman who turned herself in to the wrong parents has been informed of the mistake, the newspaper said. None of the women were identified.