A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth says he would like to "roll back the clock", days after winning a lawsuit against the hospital which mistakenly cast him into a life of poverty.
The man told a packed Tokyo press conference that he was shell-shocked when he learned the truth, saying his life would have been starkly different.
"I've wondered 'how on earth could this happen'? I couldn't believe it. To be honest, I didn't want to accept it," he told Japanese media late Wednesday. "I might have had a different life. I want (the hospital) to roll back the clock to the day I was born."
The man was not identified and photos were not allowed. TV crews were asked not film his face.
On Tuesday, a Tokyo district court ordered the hospital to pay 38 million yen in damages over its 1953 blunder which saw the man switched with another baby boy who was delivered just 13 minutes later.
It is not clear if the hospital, which has not commented on the bizarre case, will appeal.
The man, an unmarried truck driver, would have grown up as the eldest of four brothers in a wealthy family where siblings enjoyed a lavish lifestyle including private tutors.
Instead, he was raised on welfare by his non-biological mother who also supported older siblings after her husband passed away.
The family had few frills in their one-room apartment except for a radio, according to the man who studied at night school while working in a factory.
"It was like she was born to experience hardship," the man said of the woman he knew as his mother.
The man has been helping take care of his non-biological brothers, one of whom suffered a stroke.
The decades-old mistake was uncovered when the wealthy family's three younger brothers had DNA testing done on their oldest sibling -- who looked nothing like them -- after their parents died.
They checked hospital records and confirmed the identity of their biological eldest brother last year, whom the men have since met.
The four are now working on building a relationship to make up for lost time.
But the man switched at birth said he cried daily for several months after learning the truth.
"As I saw pictures of my (biological) parents, I wanted to see them alive. I couldn't hold back tears for months every time I saw their pictures."
One of my brothers "told me that we will have 20 more years to live so we should make up for lost time," he added. "I was happy to hear that and I want to do it."
The wealthy family's eldest son runs a real-estate company while his three "siblings" work for major firms, media reports said.
The trio, along with their genuine older brother, had asked for a much-bigger 250 million yen in damages.
The mothers in both families had seemingly suspected they had been raising the wrong babies.
"I think my foster mother might have sensed it," the man said, noting physical differences from the siblings he grew up with.
His real brothers remember their mother saying her first baby came back from his first bath in hospital wearing the wrong clothes.
"I've heard mother was a person who hated to lose. I have really hated to lose since I was small and was wondering where this characteristic came from," he said.
"When I heard about her, I thought 'that was it'."
© (c) 2013 AFP
16 Comments
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nath
happy for that man
timtak
Sad story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em0Vi74qZnw
jumpultimatestars
I don't understand this whole idea of "making up for lost time" just because you share dna? Your family isn't a set of biological genetic information, it's the people who have cared for your whole life, and if you don't even have parental figures in your life, your friends become your true family. This man is grasping at straws and will never find true happiness at this rate, as he doesn't understand the true meaning of family.
Vernie Jefferies
That is really sad to born with a silver spoon in your mouth and have it instantly taken away from you. I am curious to know how the rich family will treat the other non-sibling who was switched at birth. Looks like they want to avoid giving him any inheritance from the death of the parents.
WilliB
I am of mixed mind about this. Yes, that was a sad mistake at the hospital, but the way this man complains about his fate.... doesn´t he feel any gratefulness for his non-biological mother who did her best to bring him um even in poverty? At least he was not abused or dumped in a baby hatch. I mean, being born with silver spoon in your mouth is not everything now, is it? There are worse situations than being a truck driver. And 38 million play money is not that bad either.
nath
It's both. I met a sibling I never knew about, and it was amazing how many similarities we had between us. Eerily. Add hereditary disease, and the importance of knowing your family medical history into the mix, and it's obvious that the DNA (nature) is just as much a part of family as the people you grew up with (nurture). They are just different family.
WilliB
I wonder if the other switchee, the one who grew up in the rich family, is just as eager to meet is poor biological brothers, including the ones with health problems. Somehow I suspect the report about this will concentrate on only one of the brothers...
iceshoecream
I could understand his desires to meet his biological family. But saying that he wants to roll back the clock because he could have had a different life is quite and ungrateful thing to say to his family. Whose mother singly raised him after her husband passed away, along with his brothers. Blood is not the only thing that makes you family.
ConnorH93
Rather than complaining about the hard life he's had, instead he could try focusing on the positive. Sure, life was hard but he should be proud that he could still make something of himself. For me, coming from a poor background, it has made me a better person than I believe I would have been if I had come from a wealthy background.
It has taught me the value of money, something I would not have grasped if it was near-limitless, as would have been in the case of the wealthy family. It has taught me to be humble, I have worked hard and made something of myself but I understand the hardships endured by those who haven't made it because I used to endure them too.
It also taught me that if I want anything in life I'll have to work for it, no one is going to hand it to me on a silver platter. if you see it how I do coming from a poor background is nothing to complain about but rather something to be proud of. Not to mention I think me and the rest of my family are closer thanks to the hardships we all endured together despite my mothers best efforts.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is even if he had come from a poorer background he could be as rich as elder brother of the wealthy family and owning a business too. Just coming from a poorer background he had to work a hell of a lot harder than the other guy.
nath
We all have the same wish!
horizon360
The same court should now grant the other "switchee" equal compensation from the defendant hospital (another 3.8Myen) ....The negligence fell on both men's lives in the same way - not withstanding the fact that one was "accidently" reared in a wealthy family. What are these bengooshi thinking?
alejandra
The man probably emphasized on his suffers to sue the hospital and get more money.
Maria
I think this is so sad - how the story has been reported, as well as the family's apparent actions.
Reading this could feel like a real kick in the stomach for children who have been adopted into a family - is my family not my real, genuine family, then? Aremy brothers and sisters actually my "brothers" and "sisters"?
Why did the 3 siblings from the wealthy family wait until after the parents' death to do the DNA test? and did they do it with the oldest brother's knowledge / permission? Were they looking for a way to cut him out of the inheritance, rather than looking for a blood relative?
Will they cut the other man out of their lives now? Will they try to take away everything he has by claiming he doesn't really deserve any of it?
This is a tragic story - not just what happened 60 years ago, but what is happening now.
Serrano
"A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth says he would like to “roll back the clock”, days after winning a lawsuit against the hospital which mistakenly cast him into a life of poverty."
Many people would say, "Poverty in Japan?" But I see it every day.
“It was like she was born to experience hardship,”
I can relate to that.
C Harald Hansen
I hope his family will also remember the mother that raised him as her own.
Amidalism
What I want to know is if they tested their brother's DNA with his consent. If so and the results came back that he truly was their brother, I don't think he would have much interest in remaining their "brother".