Trial in Norway Women (59) learn that they were switched as babies

Two women who were switched at birth in Norway in 1965 are suing the state and the municipality. They accuse the authorities of having covered up the mistake for decades.

In 1965, a woman gave birth to a girl in a private hospital in Norway. Seven days after the birth, she returned home with a baby - which now turned out not to be her own. Almost six decades later, the big mistake has been discovered: Karen Rafteseth Dokken did not raise her biological daughter, but another child who was switched at birth.

The two women, who were born on February 14 and 15, 1965, are now 59 years old and, together with Rafteseth Dokken, have filed a lawsuit against the state and the municipality. The trial is currently underway. This is reported by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

The plaintiffs argue that their human rights have been violated. The authorities discovered the mistake and covered it up when the girls were teenagers. They are demanding an apology and compensation as their right to a family life, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, has been undermined.

"Never thought Mona wasn't my daughter"

Rafteseth Dokken, now 78 years old, burst into tears as she described in Oslo District Court how she only found out so many years later that she had had the wrong baby. "It never occurred to me that Mona was not my daughter," she said. Mona, who was named after Rafteseth Dokken's mother, described a feeling of not belonging that led her to take a DNA test in 2021. This confirmed that she was not the biological daughter of her parents.

A routine blood test in 1981 had already shown that Linda Karin Risvik Gotaas, the other switched baby, was not biologically related to her family. The Norwegian health authorities were informed of the mix-up in 1985, but decided not to inform the other parties involved. Both women said in interviews that the discovery of the mistake was a shock, but also explained many ambiguities in their lives.

Mona's lawyer explained that the state "violated her right to her own identity all these years. They kept it a secret." Mona could have learned the truth as a young adult, but didn't find out until she was 57. Her biological father has since died and she has no contact with her biological mother.

Allegedly not an isolated case

The circumstances of the swap in 1965 are unclear. However, reports suggest that there were several similar cases in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, babies were kept together while their mothers rested in separate rooms. In other cases, the mistakes were discovered before the children were permanently placed in the wrong families.

A representative of the Norwegian Ministry of Health stated that the state had no knowledge of similar cases and was not planning a public inquiry. Asgeir Nygaard, representing the Norwegian state, argues that the swap took place in a private facility and that the health authority was not authorized to inform the other families in the 1980s. He stated that there was no basis for compensation and that the claims were time-barred.

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.