A West Virginia Hospital Gave A Family The Wrong Baby For Two Hours, Claim His Grandparents

A West Virginia hospital allegedly gave a family the wrong baby, and it was hours before anyone realized the mistake, his family claims.

It sounds like something out of a sitcom, but to grandmother Barbara Colegrove, it was anything but funny,

As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports, two women, both with the last name of Perry, gave birth last week at Logan Regional Medical Center. One of the women was Crystal Perry, wife of Arnold “Junior” Perry, who that week had given birth to her fourth child (that will be important later), named Dawson. The other woman was Heather Perry, who had given birth to Colton Perry.

So on Tuesday of last week, Dawson’s grandmother, Barbara, went to the hospital to see her newest grandchild, and to see how her daughter and son-in-law were doing. When she arrived, dad Junior went to the nursery to retrieve Dawson. Sure enough, there was a basket with a baby laying in it, with the name “Perry” on the name card, but nothing else. Crystal says that right away something seemed amiss.

“Junior noticed on the card it said number five, and our baby had been in number four… He told the nurse, ‘Why is he in a baby cart that says number five?’ She said, ‘Oh that’s fine, that’s your baby.’… She just walked over there with a Sharpie marker and crossed off [Room] 205 and wrote 204.”

:Family says hospital gave them the wrong baby: Crystal and Arnold 'Junior' Perry gave birth to Dawson at Logan… https://t.co/X7kaV78Z0b

— 360MediaX (@360mediaX) June 19, 2018

Meanwhile, in the next room, Heather Perry sat, unaware that it was actually her son who was being loved and adored by another family.

According to the Daily Mail, Dawson’s family spent two hours cuddling, hugging, and kissing another family’s baby, even taking pictures of him and sending them to loved ones.

The mistake came to light a shot time later – although how how long the baby was with the wrong family is a matter of dispute. As Crystal Perry explains, a nurse asked her to read her arm band number to her.

“I didn’t think nothing of it, and then she walked out of the room. She came back [to our room], and there she has my baby.”

Heather Perry, for her part, is surprisingly nonchalant about the fact that her son was temporarily in the care and custody of the wrong family.

“It was an honest mistake. It was the first time [the nurse] saw my baby. The first time [the nurse] had dealt with him. There aren’t that many patients here in Logan.”

She also disputes the other family’s claim that her son was with them for two hours. More like “a couple of seconds,” she says.

The hospital, meanwhile, is refusing to comment on the matter, citing patient privacy.