Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994 TAG: 9401020100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WAUCHULA, FLA. LENGTH: Short
The babies left Hardee Memorial Hospital in 1978 with the wrong parents, triggering a four-year custody fight when one child died and the couple who raised her went looking for the other girl.
The nurse's aide, Patsy Webb, told CBS on Nov. 23 that she refused the order from Dr. Ernest Palmer to switch the babies' bracelets, but noticed the next day they had been switched. Webb died Thursday at 59.
Webb said she remained silent for years because she didn't want to lose health insurance coverage for her ailing child. She said she finally spoke out in November because she knew she was dying.
The switch was discovered in 1988, and Webb said in a sworn statement the following year that she knew nothing about it.
The Hardee County Sheriff's Department decided not to open a criminal investigation, saying the statute of limitations had run out. - Associated Press
by CNB