Two Austrians exchanged at birth meet 35 years later

Two Austrian women, gave birth in a Graz hospital in the south of the country, finally met 35 years later.

Doris Grünwald and Jessica Baumgartner were born in LKH-UNIKLINIKUM in GRAZ in October 1990, according to Austrian information.

Both were premature. Shortly after their birth, the two babies were accidentally exchanged and entrusted to the parents of the other family.

Then, in 2012, Ms. Grünwald discovered that she was not the biological daughter of her parents, Evelin and Josef, when she gave blood, and realized that her blood group did not correspond to that of her mother.

The Austrian public channel Orf reported on the case in 2016, but at the time, the other family was not found.

Mrs. Baumgartner was raised not far from there by Herbert and Monika Derler, according to the Thema TV show of the Orf. She discovered that her blood group did not correspond to that of her parents when she became pregnant, and a doctor informed her of the case of the babies exchanged.

Jessica contacted Doris via Facebook and they then met.

She told the program that it was like meeting a sister.

“We immediately got along,” said Doris. “It was an incredibly good feeling.”

Recently, families finally found themselves filmed by a team of TV orf.

Ms. Derler told the program that her first reaction by learning the news had been an “emotional torment”.

“But my first thought was that Jessica would always be our child. And when I saw Doris, I thought she was so adorable.”

Evelin Grünwald said: “For me, my family has just growed and I finally have a certainty.”

“It was a relief,” said her husband.

Gebhard Falzberger, Operations Director of LKH-UNIKLINikum de Graz, told the chain: “We deeply regret that this error was made at the time.”

He apologized to the two families on behalf of the hospital.

In 2016, the Grünwald consulted a lawyer who advised them to adopt Doris, in order to guarantee his inheritance rights, and obtained compensation from the hospital, Thema reported.

Derlers also seek adoption and compensation.

Jessica said it was good that there is now clarity – but she admitted to having mixed feelings.

“It’s emotionally enormous,” she said, “with beautiful sides but also a lot of pain.”