Mix-up babies back with biological parents

TWO baby girls mistakenly swapped at birth have returned home to their biological parents in time for their first birthdays.

DNA tests earlier this year revealed the two sets of parents had taken the wrong baby home from a clinic south-east of Prague.

For the past few weeks, the girls have been spending time with their biological parents for several days at a stretch.

“It’s an attempt for a permanent solution,” said Libor Broza, father of one of the girls.

The parents had planned to swap Nikola Cermakova and Veronika Broza on January 1 — but made the surprise move to switch them earlier after psychologists warned the babies were becoming increasingly attached to the wrong parents.

The mix-up came when Mr Broza became suspicious that Nikola did not resemble him. DNA tests revealed he could not have fathered her. His partner, Jaroslava Trojanova, also took a test — and her results were also negative.

Tests of the other couple, Jan Cermak and his wife Jaroslava Cermakova, who were raising a girl they believed was their daughter, Veronika, also came back negative.

The clinic in Trebic where the mix-up took place, called it a “regrettable” case and a result of “serious mistakes” made by two nurses who have since been fired.

Police have since investigated the mistake but no charges have been filed.

Jaroslava Cermakova, 25, and her husband Jan, 26, and Jaroslava Trojanova, 25, and her partner Libor Broza, 29, had children born 18 minutes apart on December 9 last year. But a mix-up on the maternity ward of the hospital in Trebic meant they left for home with the wrong babies.

Mr Broza said: “We were told by the experts that going through their first birthdays and Christmas with the wrong parents would form bonds that would be even more impossible to break than they are now.”

The families have had extensive psychological counselling since the mistake was discovered — with the experts preparing the parents to swap their babies back.

A spokesman for the two sets of parents, Milan Smejkal, said: “We will see how the families cope with this.”