Hospital mix-up shatters Makkah woman’s life

Hospital mix-up shatters Makkah woman's life Badea Abu Al-Naja | Arab News

MAKKAH: A DNA test on a 34-year-old Saudi woman recently proved that she is not biologically related to the parents who raised her. The mistake was traced back to a hospital that at the time of the woman's birth would place newborn babies in the same communal bed in the maternity ward. "I was brought up among brothers and sisters whom I loved dearly but to whom I do not have any blood relationship," said the woman in tears. The woman, who agreed to speak to Arab News on condition of anonymity, said that the woman who raised her — who passed away 11 years ago — treated her well and made her feel especially loved because she had darker skin than her siblings. "My brothers and sisters got married and left the house," she said. "I lived alone with my mother and father and I was doted over. After my mother died my father engulfed me with his love." But then the stability and care was shattered when another woman approached a court in Makkah saying that she was the biological daughter of the man. A DNA test was ordered and the woman's complaint proved true. "My sisters and brothers and I were called to do the same test that proved they were related to him, but I wasn't. The claimant turned out to be his real daughter," she said. The biological mother also came forward in the investigation to say that the two women were born on the same day in 1975 at Makkah's Jaroul Hospital. The mother told the judge that a nurse in the maternity ward picked up the wrong newborn from a communal bed. The biological mother said the child grew up with much lighter skin than her siblings. As she grew up she became convinced she was not related to the family that raised her. One day at a wedding, she met a girl who told her she looked a lot like members of a family that had one dark-skinned girl. She eventually tracked down the family and then went to the court to challenge her paternity. "Since then my life has been shattered," said the dark-skinned woman. "I still love the man who raised me, and he loves me dearly. I cannot leave him after all these years and go back to my original family." To add to the grief: her biological father passed away years ago and her surviving biological family struggles to make ends meet. "They are very poor and I am not employed though I am a college graduate," she said. "I will not be in a position to help them. I cannot leave the man who raised me