Breast-feeding debacle at Minn. hospital ignites $50K lawsuit; newborn given to wrong mom in 2012

A Minnesota hospital is facing a $50,000 lawsuit over a 2012 mistake, which put a newborn into the wrong mother’s hands for breast-feeding.

Minneapolis-based Allina Health is at the center of a lawsuit involving Tammy Van Dyke, whose son Cody ended up in the wrong bassinet on Dec. 3, 2012. Staff at Abbot Northwestern Hospital didn’t realize the mistake until a patient who delivered twins said something was wrong.

“She called the nurse and the nurse came and got my son from her, and then her son was missing for 20 minutes. He was in my son’s bassinet,” Ms. Van Dyke told a local CBS affiliate on Tuesday.

Ms. Van Dyke, who says she will never recover from the incident, has filed a lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court. She told the station that she has suffered mental injury and emotional pain as a result of the ordeal.

Both mother and child were tested for HIV and other illnesses after the mishap.

“We began using electronic identification bands [afterwards] for the mother and infant that must be matched when returning the infant to the mother,” Michelle Smith, clinical program director of Mother Baby Service Line, told the CBS affiliate. “This helps us to assure us that the identity of the infant and the mother are matched each time.”