8 Sep 2015

Couple reunited with baby ‘swapped’ in El Salvador hospital

A couple are reunited with their baby boy after claiming he was “swapped” by hospital staff in El Salvador shortly after being born.

British father Richard Cushworth, 41, and his Salvadoran wife Mercedes Casanellas, 39, believed their newborn son was swapped at birth in exchange for another child as she slept.

The couple feared their child was swapped and sold to traffickers because of his fairer skin.

Their suspicions were raised three months later after a DNA test revealed the boy they had taken home was unlikely to be their biological son.

The parents, who live in Dallas, Texas, travelled to Mercedes Casanellas’ native country for the baby’s delivery. Miss Casanellas then filed a lawsuit against Reyes Guidos, the obstetrician that delivered the baby, sparking an investigation by Salvadoran authorities.

A spokesman for the country’s society of gynaecology and obstetrics said that Dr Guido could not be held accountable for the swap because of the nature of the birth.

DNA tests

“The crime which Dr Guido Reyes is accused of cannot have been made by him for the following reason. When an obstetrician performs a normal or C-section childbirth, the newborn is immediately given to the neonatologist-pediatrician and the nurses in the (delivery) room.”

Dr Guido, who denies any wrongdoing, is being prosecuted by the authorities and has been told he could not leave the country.

Following a hearing on Monday, a Salvadoran judged ordered a switch of the children to the biological parents after another DNA test at the reuqest of Dr Guido’s lawyers.

‘Horrible situation’

Luis Martinez, Attorney General of El Salvador said: “We returned the babies to the legitimate parents. That makes us very happy because we at the Attorney General’s office are really moved when we see how many children are torn from their homes.”

Earlier this week, the couple made a desperate appeal for their chid to be safely returned.

Mr Cusworth, who is originally from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said: “It’s a horrible situation for me, for her (his wife) for my family, her family. A child is an experience you have for a lifetime. They give you grandchildren, I mean this is a life-long injury that’s very, very deep, and it’s horrible.”