Key Takeaways
- Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison, along with their parents, are suing Unity Medical Center in North Dakota, claiming hospital staff accidentally switched them as newborns on January 26, 1988, causing decades of emotional damage and medical malpractice.
- The 38-year mix-up surfaced after a Christmas DNA kit linked Bylin to a biological aunt, leading to Morrison's test and a shocking confirmation that explained why each man had long felt out of place in the families that raised them.
- Unity Medical Center has asked the court to toss the case, saying there’s no proof its staff caused the switch and that all relevant 1988 records are gone, while both families struggle to reconcile their deep bonds with the children they raised and the biological ties they missed.
Two men who were switched at birth are heading to court after DNA test results revealed the 38-year mix-up.
According to ABC News, Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison, along with their parents, filed suit in North Dakota state court last week against Christian Unity Hospital Corporation, doing business as Unity Medical Center in Grafton.
The lawsuit alleges hospital staff switched the two newborns on January 26, 1988, and that the error went undetected for 38 years. The complaint charges emotional distress, negligence, and medical malpractice.
The discovery traces back to a DNA kit that Bylin received as a Christmas gift. After submitting his sample, Bylin matched with a biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew Morrison then took his own test, which confirmed the switch. The two men had grown up in different parts of the country, eliminating any chance the mix-up happened after they left the hospital.
Morrison said the result clicked into place once he saw a photo of Bylin's brother. "They looked very much alike," he recalled. For years, Morrison had stood out in his family for reasons he couldn't explain. "I didn't have anyone that looked like me in my family," he said. "I was that blonde-haired kid that stood out in a family full of brown-haired people."
Bylin described the moment of realization in stark terms. "That's when my mind was just completely blown," he said. "We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred."
Bylin still has the original hospital ID bracelet from his birth, bearing the wrong name, which the suit cites as physical evidence. The lawsuit's complaint states that hospital employees "switched the newborns and then failed to recognize or correct the error" while acting within the scope of their employment.
Attorney Tim O'Keefe spent roughly a year trying to negotiate a monetary settlement with the hospital before filing suit. Unity Medical Center has asked the court to dismiss the case entirely, arguing there is no evidence staff caused the switch and that all medical and staffing records from 1988 no longer exist. No members of the 1988 delivery team remain employed there.
In a statement, the hospital said it recognizes "the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families," but added that "the medical and staffing records that might have provided additional clarity no longer exist."
For the parents who raised each boy, the loss runs deeper than biology. Evelyn Newton, who raised Bylin, put it plainly: "Kyle is still my son, that is never going to change. 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?"
Morrison, who now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy company, said the DNA results reframe his entire path. "I know I definitely wouldn't be here in Colorado today if I went home with the right parents," he said. "I would have been working the farm with my older brother that I never knew I had."
He was equally clear that his upbringing still stands: "I was loved. I played sports. I did well in school. A DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories."
Bylin met his biological mother, Liz O'Toole, on April 4, 2025, in Minneapolis. Both men have since met their biological parents in encounters described as welcoming but awkward. The two men have spoken by phone but have not yet met each other face to face.
Bylin said the families are working through the complexity together. "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," he said. "Everyone's getting to know people that they didn't know before."
