Hospital baby-swap blunder a weird blessing

Imagine discovering that you were swapped with another person at birth. The people you have called mum and dad for all your life are actually not biologically related to you, nor are your “siblings.” For many this would be a shell shock which would psychologically and emotionally disturb them. Just imagine how you would react. You would probably want to track down the nurse that made the blunder, prepare a huge legal battle against the hospital, and even fight with your parents because they did not realise the mistake that the hospital made!



It is therefore with great admiration that I digest the story of Dimas Aliprandi and Elton Plaster, the two Brazilian men who have discovered that they were swapped at birth at the Madre Regina Protmann Hospital, 25 years ago. This happened when Aliprandi went for DNA testing to try and get to the bottom of why; “I had blonde hair and blue eyes and my sisters had dark hair and eyes.”



What impresses is that now that the truth is out, there has been no ill feeling, animosity or blame among all concerned. The two young men are obviously happy to have found their real parents, but at the same time they have not abandoned the parents that raised them. What has evolved instead, is an unusual but impressive marriage of families. The Aliprandi family has moved in to the Plasters’ Santa Maria de Jetiba farm where they have built a house at the invitation of the Plaster family.



This is a truly heart-warming story of human love, tolerance, as well as maturity. Something that normally would have been viewed as a curse to both families has become a blessing. Dimas Aliprandi and Elton Plaster now boast of two sets of parents that will shower them with parental guidance and love. The two parental couples, Nilza and Adelson Plaster and their counterparts Zilda and Antonio Aliprandi, each have a “new” son and consequently, many new relationships have emerged between siblings, cousins, etc.



Do you agree with me that if more people on this planet were to adopt this kind of approach where we make the best out of difficult situations and we consistently practice tolerance, compassion, understanding and love for all, it would not be a fairy tale to talk about a better world?