Truck driver struggles all his life to find out he was switched at birth, gets ₹2.18 crore in compensation

A Japanese man spent most of his life in poverty before discovering that he had been switched at birth. The mix-up happened at Tokyo’s San-ikukai Hospital. The truth came out nearly 60 years later. The rich family’s younger sons grew suspicious of their elder brother’s behaviour.

They noticed he didn’t look like them. They also recalled their late mother mentioning a nurse who had changed his clothes after a bath in the hospital.

In 2009, they collected a cigarette butt from their elder brother and sent it for DNA testing. The results revealed that the man was not biologically related to them, the South China Morning Post reported.

The case shocked Japan. It reignited public discussion about hospital negligence and human error in maternity wards.

The real heir

An investigation into hospital records helped the wealthy Japanese family trace the real heir. It was a Tokyo truck driver who had been accidentally switched at birth with their son.

Neighbours often remarked that he bore no resemblance to his parents. Still, he had to struggle all his life.

The driver was born just 13 minutes earlier but grew up in a poor family. His father died when he was two. He lived without basic comforts like electricity and worked part-time jobs while struggling through school.

The child who had taken his place enjoyed a privileged upbringing and good education. He, along with three accomplished brothers, also had a successful career as a company boss, according to SCMP.

By the time the driver discovered the truth, both his biological parents had passed away.

A court in 2013 ordered the hospital to pay the man, born in 1953, 38 million yen (about ₹2.18 crore) in compensation.

Judge Masatoshi Miyasaka ruled that he was entitled to compensation. According to the judge, he was unfairly deprived of the comfortable life he should have had. Also, he could never reunite with his real parents.

“He was separated from his biological parents almost immediately at birth and will never meet them,” Judge Miyasaka said.

Sunil Gavaskar nearly switched at birth

Sunil Gavaskar was nearly switched at birth with a fisherwoman’s baby. It happened in a Mumbai hospital in 1949. The incident, which he often recalls humorously, is described in his autobiography, Sunny Days.

On the day Gavaskar was born, his uncle noticed a small hole near Sunil’s left earlobe. When he returned the next day, the baby beside Gavaskar’s mother no longer had the mark.

After a tense search, the real baby Sunil was found sleeping beside a fisherwoman. The switch reportedly happened when the newborns were taken for their baths.

Gavaskar often jokes that, if not for his uncle, he might have grown up as a fisherman.