Photo/Illutration Much of the information in this logbook of birth notifications submitted to the Sumida ward government was blacked out to protect personal information. (Yuri Murakami)

A man who learned late in adulthood that he was switched at birth decided to publicly reveal his identity and a photo of himself in hopes it will help him find his biological mother.

The enormity of the error, ascertained through a DNA test, at the now torn down Sumida Maternity Hospital operated by the Tokyo municipal government had a profound effect on Satoshi Egura's life.

Now aged 63, Egura said he feels he is locked in a desperate race against time to find his real family.

The Tokyo District Court ruled in 2005 that the hospital had committed a grave error in wrongly identifying him at birth and the Tokyo High Court a year later ordered the metropolitan government to pay 20 million yen ($176,000) in compensation.

It said his life had been turned upside down due to serious negligence on the part of the hospital. At that time, the plaintiff only spoke anonymously at news conferences.

But in the absence of gaining any cooperation from the metropolitan government in trying to find his true mother, Egura felt compelled to take further action.

He filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court on Nov. 5 calling on the metropolitan government to search for his mother and serve as a liaison should the search prove successful.

Egura wants the metropolitan government to inform his biological mother of the switch at birth and ask if she wants to exchange contact numbers with him.

“If my true parent does not want to meet me, I will not pursue the matter further,” Egura said at the Nov. 5 news conference. “But I do want to meet her, if only to better learn who I really am.”

Egura for the first time not only publicized his name, but also asked that his photo be taken.

“My mother or siblings might realize that maybe we are related if they see my face,” Egura said.

Egura was raised by a couple who lived in Fukuoka, but when he was 46, a DNA analysis found that he was not biologically related to his parents. The father who raised him died five years ago and the man's widow, now 89, is in need of constant care. The couple also never found out what happened to their true son.

Egura said his biological mother is now obviously advanced in years if she is still alive.

Because metropolitan government officials refused to cooperate, Egura perused government records himself to find other male infants born in Sumida Ward at about the same time as him. He had met with 70 individuals to date to ask if they suspected a switch at birth, but never found anyone who felt that way.

Egura also submitted applications with the Sumida ward government to release its logbook of the family register birth notifications it received at about the time of his birth. But most of the information was blacked out on grounds that personal information had to be protected.

Egura has persistently submitted similar applications every year with the hope that some change might occur.

Related News