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Woman Raised Wrong Daughter For 30 Years, While Her Child Lived With Murderer

Woman Raised Wrong Daughter For 30 Years, While Her Child Lived With Murderer

She is now attempting to sue the hospital.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A woman raised the wrong daughter for 30 years, while her biological daughter was raised by a murderer, because of a mix-up in the hospital.

Seventy-year-old Zoya Tuganova from Russia, gave birth to a little girl in 1987. When she was handed a different-looking baby by staff, she feared they had been mixed up and complained to staff.

However, they dismissed her claims and even offered to send her for psychiatric tests.

Zoya says she always worried she was raising someone else's daughter. Credit: CEN

Recalling the experience, she said: "The next day, when they brought a child for feeding, I looked at her and it was a completely different face."

Zoya and her husband, who lived in Chelyabinsk in south-central Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast region, raised the little girl, who they called Katya.

Meanwhile her biological daughter was raised by a woman called Elvira Tuligenova, who called the baby Lucia.

Katya. Credit: CEN

Lucia was raised in poverty, having to beg for money for food, Zoya said. And then, tragically, aged just 13 she was taken to an orphanage after her mother died from alcoholism and her dad sent to prison for murder.

Zoya and her husband shortly before she gave birth. Credit: CEN

Zoya said she always worried that there had been a mix-up but didn't begin looking into it until her husband's death.

She said: "I watched a show where two children got mixed up, and started crying out loud."

Lucia. Credit: CEN

With Katya's help, she managed to track down Lucia and did a DNA test, which confirmed the girls had been switched.

She is now planning to sue the hospital for £41,365 (3 million RUB) in compensation.

Both women have gone on to have children of their own, making Zoya a grandmother to Katya's eight-year-old son and Lucia's three children.

Featured Image Credit: CEN