(Kyle Bylin(L) And Family. Photo by Arise News)
After DNA testing showed that two men were switched at birth 38 years ago, their families filed a lawsuit against a North Dakota hospital, accusing the facility of depriving them of the lives they were destined to have.
During a Christmas gift exchange, Kyle Bylin took an at-home DNA test and found his biological family.
Through a genealogy platform, the test connected him to his biological aunt. Jeremy Morrison, her nephew, subsequently underwent a DNA test that verified they had been switched at birth.
Bylin recounted that his mind was completely blown by the discovery, saying they could never have imagined an actual birth switch had occurred, while Morrison said he first suspected something was wrong after seeing a photograph of Bylin’s brother and noticing their striking resemblance.
According to a lawsuit filed in a North Dakota state court last week, Bylin and Morrison were the only two babies born on January 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, and were mistakenly sent home with the wrong families.
The hospital maintains there is no evidence its staff caused the mix-up, though Bylin, who was born Jeremy Morrison, said he still has the hospital bracelet that wrongly identified him as Kyle Bylin.
The discovery was made two years ago and has forced both families to grapple with decades of lost experiences and unanswered questions.
Evelyn Newton, who raised Bylin, told The Associated Press that although Kyle remains her son and that will never change, she feels robbed of the life she should have had with her biological child, noting that 35 years of milestones, from first steps to marriage, cannot be replaced.
Unity Medical acknowledged the impact of the discovery on both families but maintained it has found no evidence that its administration or staff were responsible.
Explaining in a statement that the passage of nearly four decades means the medical and staffing records that might have offered clarity no longer exist, and that none of the delivery team from that period remain employed at the hospital.
Morrison said the revelation has not changed how he feels about the family that raised him, stressing that he was loved, played sports, did well in school, and that a DNA test could not erase 38 years of memories.
Now living in Colorado and working as a welding inspector for a wind energy company, he said he believes he might have ended up on his biological family’s North Dakota grain farm had the switch never happened.
Newton said she never suspected Kyle was not her biological son despite noticing differences in hair colour, which she attributed to extended family traits, adding that she herself was adopted.
For Bylin, the discovery has reshaped how he understands his identity and the differences he always felt within the family that raised him, describing moments of confusion over how different he was from the people he thought were his family, before realising they were simply different people altogether.
Both men have since met their biological parents, describing the encounters as welcoming but awkward.
Although they have not yet met each other in person, they have spoken by phone, with Bylin noting that they have tried to come together as a group and acknowledge that the situation carries its own social complexities, as everyone gets to know people they previously did not know.