An American woman who believes she was switched at birth is suing the hospital for liability

Melissa Brewton said what happened to her as a child was nothing short of horrific.

“My mom worked three jobs most of the time,” she said.

“I practically raised myself. I had an uncle in my family who did horrible things to me. I had another family member who did horrible things to me. I would never wish that childhood on anyone.”

Now, at the age of 49, she said she has learned that all of this could have been prevented.

She came to this realization only after her adult daughter took a DNA test.

“She just wanted to know ethnicity, where we come from, where our families come from,” she said.

The daughter told her that she found out that she had a sister.

“I realized my dad had a kid, and she said, ‘Do you want her information?'” Brewton said.

“I said ‘Yes, of course’. When I saw her picture, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I finally look like one of my family.'”

When the two finally made contact, the surprises continued.

Brewton said she told her the sister she grew up with had DNA ties to the Brewton family.

“She was like, ‘OK, when were you born?’ and I said, ‘April 25, 1975,’ and she said, ‘Okay, which hospital?'” Brewton said.

“I said, ‘Grapevine Memorial.’ She said, ‘Okay, the sister I grew up with was born on April 24, 1975, at Grapevine Memorial.'”

All of this leads them to believe that they were switched at birth, that they went home to the wrong families.

“It was just … it was a lot,” Brewton said.

Last year, she met the man who is believed to be her biological father.

“My dad is an amazing, amazing man, full of love and caring, and I didn’t grow up with anything like that, so it was anger, sadness, joy, lots and lots of different feelings,” she said.

She said her biological mom passed away in 2019, so unfortunately they never met.

Now Brewton has hired a lawyer.

Earlier this month, they sued Baylor Scott & White, the hospital system that bought Grapevine Memorial six years after Brewton was born.

“My understanding is that they assumed the liabilities of that previous hospital,” attorney Jonathan Wharton said.

“This mistake happened in 1975. That’s the same year that the Texas legislature first began enacting a bunch of restrictions on medical malpractice cases.

“One of those restrictions sets a two-year statute of limitations on everyone’s medical malpractice cases, regardless of whether the case was undisclosed or against a minor.”

However, Wharton said that technically the mix-up at the hospital happened a month before the law went into effect, so he thinks they have a case.

“What happened to me as a child was horrible, and the fact that I was placed in the wrong family was absolutely horrible and unacceptable,” Brewton said.

She wants responsibility.

In a statement to CBS News Texas, a spokesperson for Baylor Scott & White said, “It is important to note that Baylor Scott & White Health did not own, operate or manage the hospital until 1981.”