MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A Minnesota woman says she is "just in disbelief" after her newborn son was switched with another baby in a hospital and was breastfed by the other baby's mom.
Tammy Van Dyke's newborn baby, Cody, will have to be tested every three months for one year for HIV and hepatitis because of the foul-up, for which Abbott Northwestern Hospital has accepted responsibility and agreed to pay for the required medical tests, ABC News reported Friday.
Cody was inadvertently placed in the wrong bassinet Wednesday and then given to a woman who had just given birth to twins.
Hospital personnel told Van Dyke about the mix-up about 2 hours after it happened as she was preparing to go home with her new son.
"You put your baby in the nursery, not even 48-hours old, and you think they're safe," Van Dyke told ABC News. "I'm holding it together. I'm just in disbelief, and it was like I was in a dream, a bad dream, and I couldn't get it to stop."
Cody needed to undergo immediate testing for HIV and hepatitis, which Van Dyke said was "horrible."
"Two nurses had to go in through veins in his tiny little arms."
The tests were negative, and were just a precaution in any case, Abbott Northwestern spokeswoman Gloria O'Connell said.
In a letter, the hospital apologized to Van Dyke and said it would pay for the blood tests.
Van Dyke said she "will be thankful to God when this year's over and he's cleared all his health tests and we don't have to think about this again."
