A court in the Orenburg Region in the Urals on Wednesday denied moral compensation to two women who were accidentally swapped at a maternity hospital 37 years ago.
Natalya Arkhipova and Olga Buyanova were raised in Belyayevka village in the Orenburg Region. Village residents say they never resembled their parents.
The two women applied for compensation of around $100,000 to each after DNA analyses proved they were raised not by their biological parents.
The judge ruled the compensation can not be paid as laws stipulating moral damage compensation exist in Russia only from the mid-1990s.
“Therefore, civil legislation in force during the period mentioned in the lawsuit (1975) envisaged no compensation for moral damage. So, Arkhipova N.M. and Buanova O.V. have no right for the compensation,” the court’s press service said.
It is unclear whether the two women will appeal the case in a higher court.
The women said they decided to file a lawsuit against the maternity ward after learning about a similar case in the Urals. The families of two girls, who were accidentally swapped at birth 12 years ago, won a lawsuit in a Chelyabinsk court.
