Someone Else's Twin: The True Story of Babies Switched at Birth

For more than two decades, psychologist and fraternal twin Segal (Entwined Lives) has studied twins reared together and apart to draw broad conclusions about human development. In this insightful book, she now considers cases of twins unintentionally separated by health-care workers, the frequency of such mistakes, efforts to safeguard infant identity, and the difficulty of gauging adequate compensation. While Segal discusses other instances, much of her book relates her fall 2009 visit to Spain's Canary Islands to interview a pair of separated-at-birth identical twins, who discovered their twinship as adults; their parents; and siblings. With a solid mix of clinical observations (e.g., that genetic influences outweigh environment on personality and intelligence) and compassionate reflections (e.g., that twins suffer from the time of a separation), Segal assesses complex legal, moral, and ethical questions. (Aug.)