COLORADO CITY, Colo. — The families of two men who learned through at-home DNA testing that they were switched at birth nearly four decades ago are taking legal action against a North Dakota hospital, claiming the mix-up robbed them of the lives they were meant to live.
Kyle Bylin’s discovery began with a Christmas gift exchange — he randomly selected an at-home DNA test kit and took it. The results connected him to a biological aunt on a genealogy website, which then led her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, to get his own DNA tested. The outcome left no room for doubt.
“That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Bylin recalled. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.”
For Morrison, the truth hit home the moment he saw a photograph of Bylin’s brother — the physical resemblance was unmistakable.
According to a lawsuit filed in state court last week, Bylin and Morrison were the only two infants born on January 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota. Somehow, each baby was sent home with the other’s family.
Unity Medical Center released a statement saying there is no evidence that hospital staff caused the switch. However, Bylin — who was actually born Jeremy Morrison — says he still has the hospital bracelet that incorrectly identified him as Kyle Bylin.
It has now been two years since the DNA results upended everything the two men believed about their families. That time has been filled with disorienting revelations, emotionally charged family gatherings, and plenty of “what if” moments.
Evelyn Newton, the woman who raised Bylin as her own son, spoke with The Associated Press by phone and made clear that her bond with him remains unshaken — but so does her grief over what was taken from her.
“Kyle is still my son — that is never going to change,” Newton said. “But I feel robbed of the life I should have had with my biological son. You can’t go back and replace 35 years. First steps, driving a car, getting married — how do you make up for that?”
The hospital has not denied that the babies were switched at some point. In a statement, Unity Medical Center said it is working to understand what occurred but has found no evidence pointing to its administration or staff as responsible for the error.
“We recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families,” the hospital’s statement reads. “Unfortunately, because of the passage of nearly four decades, the medical and staffing records that might have provided additional clarity no longer exist, and no members of the delivery team from that time are still employed by the hospital.”
For Morrison, learning the truth has not changed how he feels about the family he grew up with. He still considers Elizabeth O’Toole and Terry Morrison his parents. Despite some difficult stretches — like when they divorced when he was 7 and he wished he had a sibling for support — he describes his upbringing as a good one.
“I was loved. I played sports. I did well in school,” Morrison said. “A DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories.”
Morrison now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy company. He believes that had the switch never happened, he would likely have grown up alongside his biological brother and father on the North Dakota grain farm where Bylin was raised.
Newton said nothing during Kyle’s childhood ever made her suspect he wasn’t her biological child. His dark hair stood out in a family of light-haired relatives, but her then-husband Keith Bylin had darker-haired relatives, and Newton herself was adopted and had no frame of reference for what her own biological family looked like.
For Bylin, who pursued an academic career far from North Dakota, the discovery reframed many of his life’s experiences. He used to wonder why he felt so different from the family he grew up with — including heated political debates at Thanksgiving dinner.
“You’re just kind of shaking your fist, like, how can this be my family? How am I so different from them?” Bylin said. “It turns out that we’re just totally different people, period.”
Both men have since met their biological parents — the encounters were described as welcoming but awkward. Bylin and Morrison have not yet met each other face to face, though they have spoken by phone.
“We’ve tried to unite as a group and just recognize that no matter what, there’s different ways that this can be socially messy,” Bylin said. “Everyone’s getting to know people that they didn’t know before.”
While such cases are rare, the growing popularity of at-home DNA testing kits is making them easier to uncover. In 2024, two women sued the Norwegian government alleging a human rights violation after discovering they had been switched at birth. In 2020, two men who believe they were swapped in 1942 filed suit against a Roman Catholic diocese in West Virginia. A 2018 case in Pennsylvania revealed that two girls had been switched roughly 75 years earlier. And in 2016, the Canadian government launched an investigation after DNA evidence suggested two men from a northern Manitoba Indigenous community were switched at birth in 1975.
Dr. Jonathan Marron, a pediatric oncologist who also teaches at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics, says modern safeguards have made such errors extremely unlikely today.
“As often as all clinicians, doctors, nurses, social workers, everybody else, gripe about the electronic health records,” the digital backstop is a clear benefit, Marron said, adding that mix-ups like this should happen “pretty close to never” in the current era.
Attorney Tim O’Keefe said he spent a full year attempting to negotiate a financial settlement with the hospital before ultimately filing the lawsuit, which claims emotional distress stemming from negligence and medical malpractice. Meanwhile, both families continue adjusting to their new reality.
“I know the truth now, but we’re still working to build relationships,” Morrison said. “I mean, it’s not like I can go back in time and rebuild what’s already lost. It’s a work in progress, just like me.”
