On her deathbed, a nurse in Zambia revealed that she switched more than 5,000 babies at birth during her 12 years in the maternity ward.
And while shocking, her confession is also raising a lot of eyebrows as people question whether or not it’s actually true.
“I wish to confess my sins before God and before all the affected people especially those who were giving birth at UTH [a hospital in Zambia] during my service,” Elizabeth Bwalya Mwewa told the Zambian Observer.
“If you were born in UTH between the years 1983 to 1995 chances are your parents may not be your biological parents. I developed a habit of swapping newly born babies just for fun.”
Mwewa, who is dying of terminal cancer, went on to caution, “Take a good look at your siblings. If, for example, everyone is light and you are dark… you are that child and I am really sorry for that.”
Begging for forgiveness, she added, “I have caused many mothers to breastfeed children who are not theirs biologically. I don’t want to go to hell for that.”
According to Snopes.com, however, for Mwewa’s claim to be true, she would have had to swap one baby every single day for 13 straight years. And many people are skeptical that she could have done that without any parents or hospital staff ever noticing.
Even more than that, following a preliminary investigation, the General Nursing Council of Zambia found “that no midwife by that name ever existed,” reports the Lusaka Times. Equally suspicious is that one of the pictures associated with Mwewa in the Zambian Observer was discovered to be a photo of a random Zimbabwean nurse who now lives in Ohio.
Regardless of the facts that point towards the situation being a hoax, the GNC noted it will continue investigating the matter.