High court to hear appeal in ‘swapped babies’ case

The high court in Olomouc is readying to hear an appeal in a legal case involving a hospital in Třebíč that accidentally swapped two baby girls at birth. The incident took place in December 2006 but the mistake was only discovered by the families many months later. The little girls were eventually returned to their biological parents. In 2009, a Czech court awarded both families a total of 3.3 million crowns in damages, but the hospital - which has admitted it was at fault – contested the amount. Prior to last year’s ruling, the facility had hoped to settle at 600,000 crowns, while the families had been asking for 12 million. The high court will begin looking into the appeal next week.