A couple who were given the wrong baby at a hospital in El Salvador have finally been allowed to travel home to the US.
Richard Cushworth, who is originally from the UK, and his Salvadoran wife Mercedes Casanellas welcomed their baby boy in her native country in May 2015.
According to BBC News, their newborn spent his first night in the hospital nursery and the following day the couple were given a different baby to take home.
Despite Mercedes’ doubts, nurses insisted the child was hers. However, when they returned home to Texas, a DNA test confirmed her fears.
Thankfully, the babies were immediately return to their biological parents but the Cushworths have had to fight for last eight months to obtain a birth certificate in order to bring their son Moses home.
While the process has been emotionally draining and has bankrupted them, they are relieved to be travelling home with their baby boy.
Mercedes revealed: “The thought that the baby I had been nursing, taken care of, loving him, bathing him, that he was not mine and then I had another thought which came with it -where’s my baby?
“So I had two thoughts — what’s going to happen with this baby and where’s my baby… I think we were in love with the baby.
“Even when I did the DNA tests, I thought I was betraying him. That was the feeling I had – I’m betraying my son but I cannot live with this.”
