Larimer County Genealogical Society

Man Learned He Was Allegedly Switched at Birth with Baby Who Had the Same Last Name. Now He’s Suing

  • Kevin McMahon and Ross McMahon were born in Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., on May 26, 1960

  • Carol Vignola took a DNA test and learned in October 2020 that her brother, Kevin McMahon, was not biologically related to her. Kevin confirmed his DNA in January 2021 and learned he and Ross were switched at birth

  • Kevin is now suing Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for alleged medical malpractice over the “preventable tragedy”

A New York man discovered his mother and father weren’t his biological parents over 60 years after his birth, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

Kevin McMahon, 64, filed a lawsuit against Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., in 2021, on a claim of medical malpractice for allegedly switching him at birth with Ross McMahon on May 26, 1960. Ross and Kevin were both tagged “Baby McMahon” and born within an hour and 45 minutes of each other, Kevin’s attorney Jeremy Schiowitz told PEOPLE. They were then allegedly given to the incorrect set of parents.

Kevin learned his true identity after the woman he’d grown up with as his sister, Carol Vignola, 66, submitted their DNA to Ancestry.com in October 2020. Vignola learned of a biological brother, whom she was unaware of, per the court documents.

The test results confirmed Vignola and Kevin’s longtime suspicions that he was not biologically related to his family. Vignola began speculating whether Kevin was her biological brother when she was 7 years old, she told the New York Post.

Vignola then told her brother of the discovery, who was shocked by the revelation.

In January 2021, Kevin took and submitted his own Ancestry.com test, which confirmed his identity. He also discovered that he had a biological brother, Keith. Later, Kevin, Keith, Vignola and Ross took additional tests to confirm their genetic relationships.

“[It was] like a shock reaction. I literally couldn’t come to terms with the information,” Kevin told the Post. “For a long time, I’m like, I’m not really Kevin McMahon. I’m really Ross McMahon… I thought to myself, ‘I’m nobody… I don’t exist.’ “

Stock image of a newborn baby boy at hospital with identity tag on feet

Kevin told the outlet that throughout his childhood, he was tormented by family members who suspected he wasn’t a blood relative. “It was like the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle,” Kevin said. “[It] explained everything about why my childhood was the way that it was.”

He told the Post that his paternal grandmother and his father suspected he wasn’t related to them and treated him so. Due to Kevin’s olive skin and brown eyes, his grandmother suspected his mother had cheated on his father. “She seemed to hate me,” Kevin said. “She believed that I was not my father’s child, and she was correct.”

“I had certain interactions with my grandmother that were abusive, physically abusive, and I learned to fear her and just stay away from her, really, to stay out of arm’s reach,” Kevin said, adding that he feared his late father.