For mothers who are able to give birth to their own children, one of the greatest moments is the first moment you bond with your baby. It's a bliss like no other, the moment when you know you're interacting with a part of you and the person you love most.
When Kathryn Jones experienced that moment on May 18, 1964, everything felt perfect. There was no indication to the happy new mother that something had already happened that would rock her and her child's worlds.
"I loved her from that second that they laid her in my arms," Kathryn shared, per The Daily Beast.
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"Never once did I think she was not mine."
Kathryn couldn't have known that there was an error at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital in Stephens County, Oklahoma, that resulted in her daughter, Tina Ennis, being switched with another newborn baby girl, Jill Lopez. Tina always noticed she looked different from her older and younger siblings, but the family believed she took after her estranged father, who left the family when she was 2. It wasn't until 2019 when they learned of the error over five decades prior.
In 2019, Tina and her daughter decided to take at-home DNA tests from Ancestry.com. When the results came back, Tina was eager to be able to learn of her grandfather, Kathryn's father, who also left his family when his children was young. The results didn't provide that information, however, or matches to any other known relatives.
Tina called Kathryn and asked if she knew anyone named Brister, the most common name appearing in the family tree. She didn't recognize the last name. Confused, Tina eventually got Kathryn to take a DNA test. When the results came back, neither Tina nor her daughter were matched with Kathryn.
Initially, they figured it was something up with Ancestry DNA. Ancestry's team helped them determine that wasn't the case. It was then that Tina began considering she may have been switched at birth. Tina's daughter did some digging online and found a local woman who was born on the same day as Tina and looked a lot like Kathryn.
That woman was Jill B. Lopez. Jill was raised in rural Oklahoma by her parents, Joyce and John Brister. When Jill got the message, she didn't rule it out of the realm of possibility, though her husband was concerned there could be some scamming afoot. Still, Jill agreed to take a DNA test, and within days, she matched to Kathryn.
Tina said the news was crushing. "My heart just sank because I was just like, 'This is for real.'" She then had to share the news with her siblings and Kathryn. When Kathryn saw a photo of Jill, she thought it was an old photo of herself.
"She actually looked just like me, and it devastated me," Kathryn shared.
"I felt like I was losing my daughter and my grandchildren too."
Tina had to cope with the fact that she'd never meet her biological parents, as both the Bristers had died prior to the revelation coming to light. It's also unclear how this happened, as both doctors who delivered the babies are also deceased.
"Jill got to be with my real parents, and now she gets to be with my parents I grew up with," she said.
"I didn't know what to think about it at first, but the more I think about it, it makes me really sad."
Kathryn, Tina, and Jill are all suing Duncan Regional Hospital. Their lawyers say that the hospital took over liability for Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital after it merged with other local hospitals in 1975. The lawsuit levels claims of recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Duncan Regional tried to get the suit dismissed on the grounds that it is not the same entity where the babies were switched, but a judge dismissed the motion in January 2022.
