How the mix-up could have occurred, there is no answer to. And it would take over 50 years before Karen Raftseth Dokken, now 78 years old, found out what had happened.
The other mother sounded the alarm in 1981 when a blood test showed that she could not be the biological mother of the daughter. But the doctors she turned to did not want to answer what had happened and where her biological daughter had gone. In the case, it appears that the mother was recommended to drop the matter and "let life go on".
What happened on the maternity ward was a serious mistake that should not have happened. But it's still what happened after it was discovered that I cannot accept. When they have conducted an investigation and not informed us who were involved in this? I don't understand how such a thing can happen, says Karen Raftseth Dokken to NRK.
Karen Raftseth Dokken and the soon-to-be 60-year-old women are now taking the state and municipality to court. They are demanding 20 million kronor in damages, an apology, and that someone takes responsibility for what has happened.
The lawyers representing the state and municipality argue that it is not possible to prove who mixed up the babies, that the matter is anyway outdated and that no one has the right to damages.
"The documentation from that time suggests that those involved experienced the assessments as difficult, among other things because it was legally unclear what they could do", writes the Norwegian government attorney, equivalent to the Chancellor of Justice in Sweden, Asgeir Nygård in an email to NRK.
