Simon Hunter
TWO SPANISH men who were switched at birth with other babies in hospital in the early 1970s are each seeking around €3 million in compensation. That’s according to lawyer Jose Saez Morga, who is also handling a similar case involving two girls who were mixed up in a hospital in Logroño back in 2002.
These latest cases involve a man who was born in 1971 in the General Hospital in Guadalajara, in Castilla-La Mancha region, and another who was born in 1972 in the Val d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona, in the Catalunya region.
The lawyer handling the cases explained at a press conference, reported by news agency EFE, that the €3 million being demanded is the highest amount permitted under Spanish law.
The case of the two girls in Logroño came to light in 2021 and has already been concluded. The two victims were born in the San Millan hospital five hours apart, and when they were moved to the incubators they were mixed up. They ended up living their childhoods and teenage years with families who were not their own.
The courts ordered the insurance company for the health service in La Rioja region to pay out €850,000 to one of the victims, but so far she has only received €215,000. As a result, the lawyer has now filed two separate cases, first to reclaim the original €3 million sum demanded in the case and another to claw back the difference between the amount ordered by the court and the payout that she has so far received.
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