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Mothers Sue Maternity Home for Switching Daughters

Two women have filed a lawsuit against a maternity home in the Orenburg region, claiming that their daughters were switched at birth there 37 years ago, in an echo of a story in Chelyabinsk that made international headlines last year.

The aggrieved women, residents of Orenburg's Belyayevo region and friends since childhood, undertook DNA tests that supported their claim, Itar-Tass reported Thursday.

They are suing the hospital that made the switch, asking for 3 million rubles each ($100,000).

That is the exact amount awarded to each of the two families in the Chelyabinsk region whose baby-swap story riveted the nation last year.

In that case, the families learned about the swap after the former husband of one of the mothers refused to support their daughter because she did not look like him.

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