Gerald Pettersen (70) in Bergen gasped when he saw the news Dagsrevyen last weekend about Mona who came away from her biological mother in the maternity ward. It happened in the maternity ward at Eggesbønes in Herøy in the 60s. Gerald Pettersen was also born there, probably ten years earlier. And he too must have been changed in the delivery room. For the mother, it was a shocking experience. – Mum was never able to forget that she had a strange boy in her arms, he says. The mother, Hagny Warholm Pettersen, died in 2003. Pettersen says the incident in the delivery room was traumatic for the mother. Many times throughout her life she talked about what happened in the delivery room in 1952. Gerald Pettersen flips through old photo albums. For the mother, it was difficult to think that he could have been changed. Photo: Kjell Jøran Hansen / news Heated discussion in the delivery room Gerald Pettersen naturally remembers nothing, but was at the center of what could have become a scandal in February 1952. Nevertheless, he is quick to add that the situation can in no way be compared to what Mona has experienced, who only discovered the change after 60 years. A good ten years earlier, his own mother had been admitted to the same maternity ward at Eggesbønes, and had a well-built boy. In the same week, two other little boys were born. When it was time for breastfeeding one day, the mother must have brought in the baby for one of the other women. – There was a heated discussion. They didn’t want to take the baby back, says Pettersen. Mora did not give in and stood her ground. She didn’t recognize the baby she had picked up in bed. In the end, the employees are said to have given in and after a long time the mother is said to have received her own newborn son back. – Thank goodness she had the strength to stand up to the authorities, luckily it went well for our family, he says. Gerald Pettersen was a small boy here, at home in Herøy in the 60s. Photo: private Had a nightmare Hilde-Gunn Ommedal, formerly Pettersen, was a 10-year-old older sister and says it must have been a strain on the whole family. Afterwards, she had several nightmares about her weasel brother disappearing with a strange family. – We could get someone else who wasn’t our right brother, and know that our boy was in another place, she sighs. She thinks it would have been unbearable if the family only found out after a few years that they had a switched child. Afterwards, they should have been told that the routines were changed and that the children were marked so that something like this would not happen again. She therefore thinks that what Mona experienced several years later is even more serious. The pair of siblings say they are unable to understand what the woman in her 60s has experienced and that she has their strongest sympathy. Gerald Pettersen on the lap of his mother, Hagny Warholm Pettersen. On the right is her older sister, Hilde-Gunn. Mother of the uncle, Mia Lindström, behind. Photo: Lennart Lindström Cannot rule out several cases In recent days, the municipal management in Herøy has been contacted by yet another family where their families are said to have been switched with another for a short time. It must have happened in the 60s. The municipality does not know whether there may be more, and understands whether people in Herøy are worried. – The municipality cannot rule out that there are no other incidents that have occurred in the delivery room, says municipal director Trond Arne Aglen. – What are they doing now to map this? – The municipality does not do anything special to investigate what may have happened in the maternity ward in the past, he says and points out that it was the sanitary women and then the county council who were responsible for the operation in the 50s and 60s. Most of the people who worked in the delivery room in the 50s and 60s are no longer alive and cannot confirm what happened. Municipal director Trond Arne Aglen has been contacted by new families after the case about Mona became known. He says the municipality has received tips about a replacement in the 50s and one in the 60s. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news Fears that it may have happened several times. Gerald Pettersen is a shoe player and for many years worked at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. He has become a father and grandfather himself. He says he has often thought about how life could have been – if his mother had not discovered what had happened. He now asks himself whether more people may have experienced transformation, not just in the birthing room at Eggesbønes in the 50s and 60s. – It could of course be that it has happened several times there – and in other places in the country, he says. The other boy who was replaced is no longer alive, and had no descendants. The sanitation house at Eggesbønes in Herøy. Here, for a long time, there was a maternity ward. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news
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Several babies may have been changed on the delivery bed
