In a case that has captivated Norway, a court is evaluating a lawsuit involving two women swapped at birth at a Norwegian hospital in 1965. Gunhild Rafteseth Dokken, now 78, unknowingly took home the wrong baby; she is suing the state and municipality along with the women—the girl she raised, Mona, and her biological daughter, Linda Karin Risvik. They accuse authorities of violating their rights by concealing the mix-up for decades after learning about it when the girls were teens; they demand an apology and compensation.
The error came to light when Dokken's daughter, Mona, took a DNA test in 2021 and found she was not biologically related to her parents. It turns out a similar discovery had been made decades prior: A blood test from 1981 indicated Linda Karin Risvik was not related to her biological parents. The mother did not pursue a case, and though the Norwegian authorities were told about it, they did not inform the others involved. The women claim that, as such, the Norwegian authorities deprived them of their right to a family life as granted them in the European human rights convention.
Representing the Norwegian state, Asgeir Nygaard asserts the incident occurred in a private hospital and that legal constraints in the 1980s prevented officials from disclosing the error. He argues that there is no legal basis for compensation and that the statute of limitations has expired. The trial commenced on Monday in the Oslo District Court and is projected to conclude by Thursday, though a final decision date remains unspecified. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
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