Parents reunite with baby boy switched at birth in El Salvador

A mother has been reunited with her baby boy after discovering the infant that she had been raising for more than four months was not theirs.

The couple’s nightmare began in May when missionary worker Mercedes Casnellas delivered a health, fair skinned baby boy in El Salvador’s Centro Ginecologico Hospital.

The new mother took note of her baby’s rosy cheeks, bald head and fair complexion and took photos of him before being given medication which caused her to sleep through the night.

The following day when the baby was returned, Mercedes noticed his complexion was darker and he had more hair. Confused she asked the nurses if he was indeed her son.

After being reassured Mercedes and her husband Richard Cushworth too their baby home to Dallas USA.

Despite loving, feeding and caring for her baby, Mercedes couldn’t shake the feeling that somethign wasn’t right.

Eventually she insisted on a DNA test which proved that the baby she’d bonded with was in fact another woman’s baby.

Due to the seemingly odd behaviour of the medical staff, Mercedes feared her son could be the victim of a human trafficking scheme and the couple returned to El Salvador to find out the truth.

DNA tests were performed on the four other boys born the same day and the couple were told that their biological son had been located and would be returned to them.

Despite the many unanswered questions that remain, Mercedes and Richard were finally reunited with their baby boy and will take him home to the United States.

Mercedes has said that she would happily keep the little baby she’s cared for all these months as well as her biological son, however he has reportedly been returned to his birth parents. 

Mercedes’s obstetrician has been arrested and released on bail as a result of the heartbreaking case and the Attorney General of El Salvador has ordered further investigations.

 

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