Mother Accuses Yakutia Hospital of Swapping Newborn on 'Let Them Talk'

Daria Luzina, a mother of multiple children, accused the maternity hospital in the settlement of Khandyga in the Tomponsky District of Yakutia of swapping her baby, as she recounted on December 16 on the show «Let Them Talk» on Channel One. According to the woman, her biological son was stolen from her and replaced with a girl who soon died.

She Expected a Boy, but Gave Birth to a Girl

Daria Luzina became pregnant at 17 and gave birth in 2008. She had a cesarean section. She was told about a baby girl, although, as she insists, throughout the pregnancy and according to ultrasound results, she was expecting a boy. The girl given to Daria after childbirth died three days later. Doctors reported that the child had multiple pathologies.

— I gave birth in the settlement of Khandyga in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). On the ultrasound, they told me I would have a boy, and everything was fine with him. And [after childbirth] they told me I gave birth to a girl with multiple developmental defects, — Daria said on the program «Let Them Talk».

The child was not shown to Daria, and she was only given the body three days after death. The woman decided to bury the girl at her father«s gravesite in Khandyga.

There Was No Monster Child

After what happened, Daria broke up with the child«s father. She met another man and had children. Her ex-boyfriend also has a family, and he fathered healthy children without pathologies.

Daria decided to find out whom she buried 17 years ago, because now she is a mother of multiple children — she has two sons and a daughter with cerebral palsy. It was because of her daughter that she decided to learn if she had hereditary pathologies. She turned to the gynecologist in Khandyga who delivered her baby, asking for documents.

— To which she told me: «I won»t give you anything, everything written there is terrible,« — says Daria.

In the end, the woman managed to obtain copies of documents, which stated that her daughter had: «upper limbs — the humerus bones begin near the neck, the hands are thinned, fingers »like a chicken«s foot,» the mouth does not open wide, it opens in a state of a snarl. The child«s condition after birth is severe, heartbeat is weak, no breathing.»

But Daria recalls that when she saw her daughter before the funeral on October 12, «the child had a normal appearance, no snarl, no mutational types.» Therefore, Daria concluded that the doctors swapped the documents and gave her someone else«s child.

A lawyer on the program «Let Them Talk» said that he studied the documents, and there indeed were handwritten changes several times to the wording about the fetus«s position in the womb.

Elena Petrunina, Daria«s aunt, who was present at the funeral, came on the program. She claims that she and Daria unwrapped the infant and looked at the girl.

— She was absolutely normal, that is, mouth, eyes, hands, everything normal. Even her weight was normal, about 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lbs), — the aunt recounted.

Daria also went to the morgue, where an employee told her that 17 years ago «there was no monster child.»

Doctors Often Make Mistakes

Representative of Yakutia«s obstetricians-gynecologists Rosa Filippova participated in the program. According to her, the Yakutia MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) conducted an investigation in the Tomponsky District.

— An exhumation was conducted, two independent genetic examinations were carried out. I understand Daria as a mother, she could have been in a state of affect and not critically evaluated everything. And we trust what is in reality: two examinations in Yakutsk and Khabarovsk, — Filippova said.

Regarding the crossed-out data in the certificates, Filippova believes it could have been an ordinary doctor«s slip: »This happens very often with us.«

The specialist also believes that in Khandyga they could have mistaken the child«s sex, since the ultrasound machine at that time was not of expert class, and the doctor — an obstetrician-gynecologist — does not possess the skills to determine developmental defects.

Her Son Is Alive, but Did the Gynecologist Take Him?

Daria claims that she found on social media a photo of the doctor who delivered her baby, next to which a boy is depicted, very similar to her and matching in age. Daria believes this boy could be her real son.

Meanwhile, the gynecologist, who still works in Khandyga, reported that Daria was told about the baby swap by «some shaman.»

— Of course, no one swapped her child. And that boy whom she considers her son, that is my son. And he is even older than Daria«s child! Journalists publish unchecked nonsense, thereby shaming me and the republic! I have worked for 25 years, and now this! — the doctor is outraged.

Rosa Filippova stated during the broadcast that the obstetrician-gynecologist gave birth in Yakutsk in 2005, in the perinatal center.

— There are no doubts here, our colleague was discharged with a healthy, good boy, — said Filippova.

After the airing of «Let Them Talk,» the head of Russia«s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin requested a report from Yakutia colleagues on the results of checking information about baby swaps in the Yakutia maternity hospital.

As told to the 14.RU correspondent in the Yakutia Investigative Committee, the check was conducted within the framework of Luzina«s statement, who in October 2008 at the Tomponskaya Central District Hospital, being a minor, gave birth to a healthy child, who, in her opinion, was swapped by a medical worker, and she was given the body of a deceased newborn with developmental defects.

— Within the procedural check, the applicant«s arguments were thoroughly verified. An exhumation of the buried child»s body was organized, biological samples were seized, and a genotypic examination was conducted at the Expert-Criminalistics Center of the Yakutia MVD. The examination established that the applicant is the biological mother of the buried child, — 14.RU was informed by Nadezhda Dvoretskaya, senior assistant to the head of the Yakutia Investigative Committee management.

A second DNA examination was also conducted by experts from the Forensic-Expert Center of the Russian Investigative Committee because Daria considers the gynecologist«s son to be her own child.

— The child whom the applicant considers hers does not match in age or sex. The doctor«s child was born two years earlier than her infant in another medical institution, — added Dvoretskaya.

Now Daria is raising her daughter, who has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, alone. The child is not from her second husband, but from another man. Her sons have no physical or psychological problems and live with their father. Despite all the examinations and checks conducted by law enforcement agencies, Daria Luzina wants to conduct a third independent examination of the buried child and be present herself at the exhumation of the body. The first time she could not come to Khandyga because she lived in Sochi and did not have money for a ticket.