The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will begin a search for the birth parents of a 67-year-old man accidentally switched as a newborn at a now-closed maternity hospital, Gov. Yuriko Koike said Friday.
The capital will not appeal a Tokyo District Court ruling in favor of the man, Satoshi Egura, who is asking the metropolitan government to probe the case, Koike said.
“The metropolitan government deeply apologizes to Satoshi Egura and others involved for the great pain caused,” she said. “We will respond carefully and give full attention to each person’s feelings while taking all precautions when handling personal information.”
According to the ruling issued Monday, the woman who raised Egura gave birth to a boy at a metropolitan government-run maternity hospital in Sumida Ward on April 10, 1958. The boy was cared for in a nursery, where he was accidentally swapped with Egura.
A DNA test in 2004 found that Egura and his parents were not biologically related.
The ruling presented a possible method for tracking down Egura’s birth parents, using the family registry system in Sumida Ward to identify men and their parents who may have been involved in the accidental swap, and seeking their cooperation in DNA tests.
The metropolitan government’s Bureau of Public Health plans to conduct the search based on this method and will decide specific procedures in the future. It intends to coordinate with the central government, which has jurisdiction over the family register law.
“I was relieved to receive an apology from the governor,” Egura told a news conference. “I hope the metropolitan government will quickly decide its search method and conduct the investigation as soon as possible, because I have high expectations that I will be able to meet (my birth parents).”
