Twins discover they were separated after birth as part of a secret study

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Friday, March 9, 2018
Twins discover they were separated after birth as part of a secret study
Twins discover they were separated after birth as part of a secret study. Alicia Vitarelli reports during Action News at 4 p.m. on March 9, 2018.

It's a shocking story of a set of identical twins separated at birth as a part of a secret "nature versus nurture" study.

The twins were adopted by different families who were in the dark about this experiment.

It happened in the 1960s at Louise Wise -- a premiere Jewish adoption agency.

Doug Rausch and Howard Burack were 35-years-old when they found out, and finally met face to identical face.

"It's like looking at yourself in the mirror, and we hit if off right away, instant connection. I felt like I knew Doug my whole life," says Burack.

Filmmaker Lori Shinseki's documentary follows the phenomenon, and what happened when the families finally found out that they had been lied to and why.

Turns out when Louise Wise was shutting down a woman there knew she had cancer and was dying, and before she left she called the families and blew the lid off the case.

Elizabeth Vargas has the full story on 20/20, airing tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

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