Spanish twin sues over separation

A woman who found out she was a twin 28 years after being separated from her family, is suing health authorities in the Canary Islands for €3m (£2.4m).

The saga began when a friend of one twin saw the other twin in a dress shop in 2001 and was offended when she was ignored. The first twin denied having been in the shop, and when the second twin appeared again, the friend questioned her about her identity. The twins eventually met and found they resembled each other "like two drops of water", said Sebastian Socorro, the lawyer handling the claim. "They walked the same, looked the same and spoke the same." DNA tests revealed the twins – who want to remain anonymous – were 99.99 per cent identical. One twin had been mistakenly given to another family at birth in 1973.

The separated twin was devastated to learn the truth. "In a single day, her whole world fell apart," Mr Socorro said. She is suing health authorities for psychological suffering and wants a multimillion euro payout for "moral damage caused to [her] personal dignity by bad administrative practice, which affected her personal and family development."

"She was deprived of relations with her biological family and the support of her twin sister, aggravated by the death of her biological father before her parentage was discovered," Mr Socorro said.

The hospital in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, denies it acted improperly.