NEED TO KNOW
- Doris Grünwald and Jessica Baumgartner were sent home with the wrong families shortly after they were born in 1990
- Doris was the first to learn she was not biologically related to her parents, and Jessica eventually learned the same
- The two woman have now met for the very first time, and are not dwelling on the mistake
Two women who were switched at birth met for the first time after 35 years — and they got along from the very start.
Doris Grünwald and Jessica Baumgartner were born prematurely at a hospital in Austria in October 1990, according to English translations from Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung and public broadcaster ORF.
But a short time after their births, Doris and Jessica ended up getting switched and went home with the other’s biological parents.
It was only while donating blood in 2012 that Doris learned that she wasn’t biologically related to parents Evelin and Josef Grünwald, according to the BBC, citing Austrian news reports. But for years, the other family couldn’t be found.
That changed after Jessica became pregnant and also learned that she was not her parents’ biological child due to her blood type, which wasn’t a match for either of theirs.
A doctor she spoke with then brought up the unsolved case involving Doris.
Soon after, Jessica and Doris connected on Facebook, according to the BBC. Later, they met in person for the first time — and a recent meetup of the two families was filmed by ORF.
“We got along right away,” Doris told the outlet. “It was an indescribably good feeling.”
Doris’ biological mom said she experienced “emotional turmoil” after learning about the mix-up.
“My first thought was Jessica will always be our child,” said Monika Derler. “And when I saw Doris, I thought she is such a sweetheart.”
Added Evelin Grünwald, “For me, my family has just got bigger and I finally have certainty.”
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Gebhard Falzberger, operations manager at the hospital where the switch occurred, apologized for the mix up. “We deeply regret that this mistake was made at the time,” he told ORF, per the BBC.
The hospital did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In 2016, the BBC reported that a lawyer helped the Grünwalds get compensation from the hospital and also advised them to adopt Doris. The Derlers are also reportedly pursuing adoption and compensation.
But neither Doris nor Jessica are dwelling on the switch more than three decades after it occurred.
“It’s not important to me when exactly the mix-up happened,” said Jessica, according to Kronen Zeitung. “I’m not angry with anyone, no nurse or anyone else – nobody does something like that on purpose, please.”
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