Johor babies switched at birth
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Teo Ma Leong always knew that he and his wife had brought the wrong baby home. But, 29 years ago, the hospital authorities had insisted that there was no mistake.
Then in 1998, one of his daughters spotted a younger version of him working in a shopping centre.
After watching from afar for a while, the Teos finally picked up the courage to speak to the young man.
His name was Zulhaidi Omar.
DNA tests confirmed he was TeoÂ’s son. Four months after the DNA tests, Zulhaidi decided to move in with the Teos.
As it turned out, Zulhaidi had always known he was adopted, and that he was not Malay by birth.
"I looked different from my family members and my classmates," he said.
"When they found me, I was shocked because I never thought I would find my real parents."
Now 29, Zulhaidi wants to renounce Islam and take a Chinese name.
He had led a tough life, and fended for himself since he was 13.
He had left his Kampung Low Piak home in Batu Pahat, after his mother divorced his drug addict father and remarried several times.
Working in restaurants, washing cars and taking odd jobs, he made barely RM100 a month, but it was enough to support himself through secondary school.
He shared a room with friends, and even saved enough over the years to sign up for a part-time diploma course.
When he met the Teos, he had worked his way up to supervisor. And they realised for the past 20 years, they had been living just miles apart in Batu Pahat.
The family spoke out for the first time yesterday, at a Press conference called by the MCA Tampoi Baru division here.
Teo, 67, said the family was contemplating a suit against the Batu Pahat Hospital, for the mix-up which had split and traumatised his family.
He and his wife Lim Sai Hak initially were not perturbed by the dark-complexioned baby they brought home from the Batu Pahat hospital in 1978.
"At the time, I did not see anything amiss. We just took him home," said Teo, a retired mechanic living in Taman Bukit Perdana.
They named him Tian Fa. It was not until a month later, that relatives pointed out that the baby did not resemble his parents.
"We went back to the hospital to check if there had been a mistake.
"But the hospital insisted that he was our child," he said.
But the doubts never went away. "I never stopped looking for my biological son. Somehow, I knew he was alive and well."
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20070203093210/Article/index_html
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and wat happened to the wrong baby he carried home?
disown him?
swop back? let him fend for himself? -
the wrong baby he carried home was now married to a chinese woman, and had no interest in contacting his biological familyOriginally posted by browniebaobao:and wat happened to the wrong baby he carried home?
disown him?
swop back? let him fend for himself? -
oh..Originally posted by keropoking:the wrong baby he carried home was now married to a chinese woman, and had no interest in contacting his biological family
so they still treat him like their own? -
yah.... he has his own family le....Originally posted by browniebaobao:oh..
so they still treat him like their own? -
malaysia ppl all nbcb
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sad hor..
juz bcos of the mistake, it changed the life of two persons. -
wah dramatic lives.
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That is a very huge mistake made.
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poor guy..suffering for a mistake of the hospital.
I SUPPORT THE SUEING -
At least I'm relieved that the family found their biological son at last... After more than 20 years, they finally have a reunion... (I think TV companies can shoot a drama based on this story...)
I still feel sad that there are many families around the world which got separated and never meet again... Once, I read in the Times magazine about families separated since the Korean War... A few families finally get reunited after half a century, using old family photos as the only proof. But there are still many families which are still not reunited.
When I learned German, I also read stories of families separated by the Berlin Wall. During my immersion in Germany, my host "mother" told me that she was from East Germany and she tried to "escape" to West Germany during the 1970s. But she was caught by the East Germans and was jailed. It's only after some people in West Germany bribed the East German govt, that my host "mother" was released into West Germany. However, after she entered West Germany, she got separated from her family in East Germany for 2 decades, until the two Germany reunited in 1990. Of course, the reunion with her family was a teary but joyful one. (Another story that TV companies can shoot drama...)
The stories of Korean and German families are caused by politics, so we couldn't do much except sighing and feeling sad... But for this Johor hospital case, I agree that the hospital deserved to be sued. If they can make this kind of serious mistake for babies, what happen if they make the mistake for organ transplant or blood transfusion? People can die!