A mother whose newborn son was mistakenly turned over by maternity ward staff to another mother and breast-fed has sued the Minneapolis hospital. 
 
 Tammy Van Dyke, of Apple Valley, sued Allina Health System's Abbott Northwestern Hospital late last week. 
 
 The suit said the Dec. 5, 2012, mix-up led to "unnecessary medical treatment, tests and expenses, and severe mental injury and emotional pain and suffering." 
 
 In response, Abbott acknowledged the mistake, saying it appears the staff failed to follow procedure of matching codes on the infants' and mothers' identification bands. 
 
 Two months later, Abbott instituted a new procedure using higher-tech identification bands to avoid further mix-ups. 
 
 "We began using electronic identification bands for the mother and infant that must be matched when returning the infant to the mother," said Michelle Smith, who oversees Abbott's Mother Baby Center. "This helps us to assure that the identity of the infant and mother are matched each time." 
 
 The new system displays a green light to tell the nurse that the mother and baby match. 
 
 Allina spokeswoman Gloria O'Connell said Tuesday she's unaware of any such mix-up occurring at Abbott since the electronic bands started being used. 
 
 Van Dyke gave birth to son Cody Stepp on Dec. 3, 2012, and the boy was handed over to another mother in the center and breast-fed, the suit said. Cody was wearing three hospital ID bracelets with the proper identification on his ankle, according to his mother. 
 
 A few days after the late-night mistake, Van Dyke said that Cody and the other woman, who had given birth to twins, were given blood tests to make sure they were not exposed to any infectious diseases, such as hepatitis or HIV, that can be transmitted through breast milk. 
 
 All the tests were negative, she said — but Cody had retesting scheduled every three months for a year. 
 
 The suit seeks more than $50,000 and whatever other compensation a court might find proper for Van Dyke. 
 
 Her attorney, Wayne Jagow, declined to discuss specific facts of the case, but said they decided to sue after negotiations for a settlement failed. 
 
 "My client had no desire to bring herself into the limelight again by starting a lawsuit, but really had no choice as our statute of limitations was up," Jagow said in an e-mail. "We had attempted to get some sort of dialogue going with Abbott/Allina over the last year to handle this quietly and they simply refused." 
 
 Jagow also said Van Dyke was not told of any changes to procedures to prevent this from happening to other families. 
 
 "This has always been her primary concern," he said. ||||| A newborn baby will have to undergo a year of medical tests for HIV and hepatitis because he was accidentally put in the wrong bassinet by a Minneapolis hospital and then breastfed by the wrong mother. 
 
 The mix-up happened Wednesday in Abbott Northwestern Hospital when Tammy Van Dyke's little boy Cody was accidentally switched to the wrong bassinet in the nursery. 
 
 "You put your baby in the nursery, not even 48-hours old, and you think they're safe," Van Dyke told ABC News today. "I'm holding it together. I'm just in disbelief, and it was like I was in a dream, a bad dream, and I couldn't get it to stop." 
 
 Van Dyke was told two hours after the switch happened, just hours before she was going to take Cody home. 
 
 The infant had to undergo blood testing for HIV and hepatitis immediately following the switch. 
 
 "It was horrible," Van Dyke said. "Two nurses had to go in through veins in his tiny little arms." 
 
 Although the tests came back negative, Abbott Northwestern Hospital told Van Dyke her newborn son would have to undergo blood testing every three months for a year. 
 
 Hospital spokeswoman Gloria O'Connell said the tests were "just a precaution," but declined to elaborate because of patient confidentiality. 
 
 Van Dyke was able to speak with the other mother, who had to wait 20 minutes before her baby, Liam, was located. 
 
 "It gave me peace of mind to talk to her," Van Dyke said. "She was just as distraught as me that this happened to her, and in the meantime, also didn't know where her baby was. She has twins." 
 
 Van Dyke, who also has a 2-year-old, said the homecoming shortly after wasn't what she thought it would be. 
 
 "I imagined getting up and getting ready and having Cody in the car with his big brother and coming home as a happy family," Van Dyke said. "We were going to videotape the homecoming, showing his room, and I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't put myself together, because it wasn't what I had imagined all this time." 
 
 In an apology letter given to her, the hospital states: 
 
 "Please accept this letter with our sincerest apologies for what occurred today at the hospital, that in the nursery your newborn son was placed in the wrong bassinette and then was taken to the wrong mother and breastfed. The hospital agrees to pay for the additional testing that you had done today and will also pay for the tests recommended for your son related to this incident up to one year." 
 
 And in a press release from Abbott Northwestern, practicing obstetrician and Chief Clinical Officer of Allina Health, Dr. Penny Wheeler, said, "As an obstetrician, I have personally seen verification of the infant's identifying name band matched correctly with the mother's on hundreds of occasions. It is extremely unfortunate that was not the case this time. We sincerely apologize to the involved families and will make certain we understand why our procedures were not appropriately followed in this case." 
 
 "I will be thankful to God when this year's over and he's cleared all his health tests and we don't have to think about this again," Van Dyke said.
– In early December 2012, Tammy Van Dyke of Apple Valley, Minn., gave birth to a healthy baby boy. But shortly before she was set to take baby Cody home from the hospital two days into his life, she learned that a nursery mix-up had resulted in another mother breastfeeding her child. This led to "unnecessary medical treatment, tests and expenses, and severe mental injury and emotional pain and suffering," according to a lawsuit she has just filed against Allina Health System's Abbott Northwestern Hospital, which has admitted to the mistake, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In the end, after a year of quarterly blood tests to ensure Cody had not been exposed to infectious diseases such as HIV, Cody came out in the clear. When the mixup was announced in 2012, hospital spokeswoman Gloria O'Connell told ABC News at the time the tests were "just a precaution." But it was still "horrible," said Van Dyke, who is seeking at least $50,000, plus whatever compensation a court might decide. "Two nurses had to go in through veins in his tiny little arms." Meanwhile, the other mother, who'd had twins, reportedly told hospital staff who brought her Cody that she didn't think the baby was hers, reports KARE 11, but they assured her he was. Then she saw his anklet and discovered the mixup. "She was just as distraught as I was," Van Dyke says. Two months after the mixup, "we began using electronic identification bands for the mother and infant that must be matched when returning the infant to the mother," says an Abbott rep. (A baby switched at birth in 1994 was awarded $2 million.)