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In the 80s, Poland experienced a demographic boom, which resulted in a large number of newborns and infants in hospital wards. Conditions were conducive to making tragic mistakes. As was the case with Kasia and Edyta. The inattention of the staff for life marked two families from Warsaw.
- Kasia and Edyta are identical twins, but they grew up with different parents
- In the hospital, Edyta was mistaken for Nina and went to Kasia’s family. For years, no one realized that the switch had taken place
- Kasia and Edyta often heard that they had ‘doubles’ in the city. The confrontation of the girls led to a shocking discovery and an unprecedented lawsuit
- You can find more such stories on the Onet homepage.
The children were turned into a hospital. Nobody noticed the mistake
Edyta was born on December 15, 1983. At the same time, twin sisters were born – Kasia and Nina. After giving birth, three girls were taken to one of the hospitals in Warsaw. Edyta had pneumonia, while the twins became dehydrated as a result of diarrhea.
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The 80s were the time of a baby boom in Poland. Children were born so many that nurses with newborns had to be helped by the students of medical schools. One of the tasks assigned to inexperienced young women was bathing newborns. It was probably during the hygienic procedures that a mistake took place that completely changed the lives of two families from Mazovia. Someone made a mistake, and their daughter Kasia and Edyta returned to the home of one family. Nina, in turn, went to another family. Nobody noticed the mistake.
At first there was laughter and surprise. Then the drama began
Kasia and Nina grew up together as twin sisters, Edyta grew up convinced that the Wierzbicki family are her biological parents. Nobody had any suspicions, the families’ lives went on as normal.
It was only after several years that Kasia and Edyta began to receive information that they had a “double” in the city. It happened that Edyta was approached by friends of her twin sister, calling her Kasia. When the girls were 17 years old, the “bomb” exploded.
– I met Kasia on the street. I turned to her. She was greatly surprised. It turned out to be Edyta. I put the girls in touch with myself. At the beginning there was laughter and surprise – she said in an interview with ATTENTION! TVN Emilia, Kasia’s friend.
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Initially, the girls did not tell their parents about the meeting. Only after a few weeks did they share this information. Both families began to meet and talk. They jointly determined that in 1984 Kasia, Nina and Edyta were in the hospital at ul. Niekłańska.
– Kasia brought Edyta and my legs buckled under me. She smiled and I knew it was my daughter – admitted Elżbieta, mother of the twins.
It was Nina who insisted on having DNA tests done. After a few weeks, the results confirmed that the children were exchanged, and Kasia and Edyta had a striking similarity, but also blood ties.
Unprecedented compensation from the Treasury
The discovery turned the lives of both families upside down. Mothers have been driven into guilt. They couldn’t forgive themselves for not realizing that they had swapped their children. In turn, teenagers had a problem with mutual acceptance. Kasia and Nina started rejecting Edyta.
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The families decided to seek justice in court. They knocked door to door, but the lawyers were reluctant to pursue the case. Only attorney Maria Wentlandt-Walkiewicz agreed to fight for compensation for the families. The case lasted for seven years and ended with an unprecedented sentence. Family members received in total over PLN 2 million from the State Treasury. The court also emphasized that the feeling of guilt in relation to the situation should not accompany parents, but those who are really guilty.
The film “Deceived” tore the wounds of both families
In 2013, four years after the sentence, the film “Cheated” appeared on the screens of Polish cinemas, the script of which resembled the life story of Kasia, Nina and Edyta. As stated by attorney Wentlandt-Walkiewicz, the authors did not ask their families for permission to use their biographies. Meanwhile, the film scratched wounds that have not yet healed. So much so that the heroines of the drama even considered the possibility of changing their surnames.
– The girls are thinking about changing their names so as not to be constantly identified with this film and the replacement. They do not want to be recognizable, because their image, which was shown in the film in one way and no other, additionally deepens their problems and creates new ones – said in an interview with NaTemat, attorney Wentlandt-Walkiewicz.
The case of two families made people wonder whether there could have been more such tragic mistakes in Poland.
– We do not even realize how great the scale of this phenomenon could have been – admitted attorney Wentlandt-Walkiewicz. – The most common cases where twins are concerned, because they are the easiest to recognize. Dread to think how many other children have been replaced. These things most often come out when a blood transfusion is needed and it turns out that it does not match any of the parents of any of the siblings.
In 2013, attorney Wentlandt-Walkiewicz herself had already dealt with three similar cases, and three more were just underway. In the case of Kasia and Edyta, the truth finally came to light. Some Polish parents will never find out that they raised children other than theirs.
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