Minnesota Woman Sues Hospital After A New Born Mix Up

A Minnesota woman has filed a lawsuit against a health care provider after her newborn was mistakenly given to another mother at a hospital and breastfed. Tammy Van Dyke, of Apple Valley, recently filed the lawsuit in Hennepin County, seeking more than $50,000 in damages for medical treatment, severe mental injury ,tests, and emotional pain, stemming from the incident that happened in 2012.

According to KARE 11 Van Dyke dropped her son Cody off at the hospital nursery so that she could get some additional rest before heading home. She requested that her son be fed formula and then headed back to her room.

Later, hospital officials came into Van Dyke’s room and told her Cody had been placed and the wrong bassinet and breastfed by another mother.

The other mother told hospital staff that she didn’t think the baby she was holding was hers but they reassured her that it was. She did not realize that she had the wrong baby until she noticed the different bracelet on the baby’s ankle.

Abbott Northwestern released a statement after the incident admitting a mistake was made, saying, “While hospital procedures require staff to match codes on the infants and mothers identification bands in order to prevent incidents like this, it appears these procedures were not followed in this case.”