[purelegance]

article

in a nutshell - mom & dad felt they were not receiving adequate care & wanted to leave the hospital. obviously, the hospital denied them of this, so Dad takes baby and tries to leave. the security guard then tasers dad right as they approached the elevators.

Absolutely absurd. After reading one of twins' blogs, i wonder when lawmakers are going to give parents the right to switch hospitals! i don't understand how its legal to practically make patients prisoners. Not to mention, where is this guy's brain?! i'm sure somewhere in hospital security 101 they say "do not shoot/taser any person holding a newborn"

[angelic_ky]

have to agree that tasering someone holding a baby is beyond absurb but then seems to more to the story on why they weren't allowed to leave

[wanttobemommy]

WTF was the guard thinking. I honestly think that there is more to the story as to why the parents were advised not to leave. But they still have the right to leave Against Medical Advice. AMA is bad and most insurance companies will not cover a switch if you check out this way but the guard should have used common sense. I would have wanted to stop the parents from leaving if there was a reason for this but wouldnt do anything to harm and innocent infant

[twinzplus3]

This story has come up in the news again because the parents are saying that the girl has head trauma from the fall when he dropped her. They were not being released because the mom had had a c/s so she still needed to stay. I still think that parents have the right and I know from personal experience that you are often not presented with the 'choice'. Purelegance which one did you read? The blog on this story or the ones about our experience with Meghan?

[MissyChrissy]

That's horrible. I don't care what the father was saying...they had no right to tazer him while he was holding his baby.

[purelegance]

Originally Posted by twinzplus3

Purelegance which one did you read? The blog on this story or the ones about our experience with Meghan?

your experience with Meghan & all the work you had to go through with the hospital & i want to say you had to bring your pediatrician down to the hospital? it was a bit ago that i read the blog.

[QueenAngie]

Remember April 13, 2007 the story the parents told?
It has suddenly twisted for Aug, 2007.

The parents are looking for a big cash settlement or for a lawsuit.

I do not have the article in front of me, but it was 0200 AM in the morning. The mother did not wish to leave and she did not wish for the baby to leave.

The father has been jailed for domestic abuse several times. This is another reason the baby is with child services and not the parents.

Goes back why would the father try to take the baby, when the mother was not wishing to leave yet from her c-section and she did not want to have the baby leave either?

4 months later, the stories from the parents change.

Yes, the parents are after money.

*******
On a personal note, several times I have been involved at my own hospital with "Code Pinks" and it is very upsetting to the staff. 80% or more of the hospital staff stop their routine jobs and start searching for the kidnapped newborn.

When pg mothers are admitted, they know the rules as far as the security bracelets for the babies. It is a safety precaution against kidnapping.

***********

Certainly the security guard should not have tasered the adult, who was holding the newborn.

But, the father of the newborn should have known better, and he placed that newborn baby girl at risk.

Guess if the parents did not wish to follow the hospital rules and regulations, they should have attempted to have a c-section somewhere other than a hospital with rules, regulations, and safety measures.

[twinzplus3]

Angie I did notice that the story had changed. . .but I haven't read anything about them suing the hospital. I also never read that the mother wished for the baby to stay and the father went against the mother's wishes. They have always been on the same page as far as I know. She has always stuck up for him as the father of her baby--there's never been a discrepency. It honestly sounds to me like a couple that doesn't have it together. . .I know we've talked about this before. . .and I know you've had personal experience with this. . .

But the off duty police officer didn't know the history of the man he was using the tazer gun on. He was a) off duty and b) couldn't have known previous history before the incident. That was something they dug up to counter act the bad press. It makes people go, "Oh see the hospital wasn't so bad--he has a history." The other thing that has changed about the story is that the hospital did not originally say they had not expressed their wishes to leave. The very first story I read on this said that they were not permitting them to leave bc the mom had had a c/s. It's obviously a good reason but still patients have rights.

And you know darn good and well that they can't go have a c/s somewhere besides a hospital. One of the challenges of a staff when they are dealing with people like this is to do so professionally. I think had the man been tazered on his way out of the doors to the hospital or in the lobby, people may have felt differently. But there was still opportunity to talk when you're going onto the elevator. I don't think they used every last option.

Oh and as a side note--yes, I have always been briefed on security procedures but never my husband. Not once in four births.

[oweirdo]

There would have been a much better time and place to do that
I agree in the elevator there would have been a chance to talk, maybe take the baby back with a smaller chance of someone getting hurt. but if he tries to run out the door what are you going to do ask him to put the baby down so you can taser him?
That was the one thing I really like about RR hospital. all the alarms! nobody came in to the labor and birth area unless they were in labor or the one support person. and you could not open the main doors out of the area unless you had a pass from the nurses. each pass was matched with mom and baby, so that everyone was documented. even when they took us to the PP rooms, the nurse checked in at the station saying we would be going through the door. Mikey went with Kelli, and the alarm went off, and a few minutes later when I went out the alarm went off.

[twinzplus3]

No if he was closer to the door you'd taser him. . . but I don't think it would be as questionable as to whether or not he was treated fairly. It's kind of like shoplifting laws. . .

You can't prove someone has shoplifted until they are on their way out the door. Just seeing them slip something in their pocket or under their coat is not sufficient evidence to hold them.

Granted, you wouldn't want him to leave with a baby. . .but had he been closer to the doors in the lobby. . .had there been a "hand the baby over or we'll tazer you and you don't want that" I think people would feel like he deserved it and he put the baby in harms way. But bc it was handled in the way it was handled. . .it is portrayed as "these poor people". Oh and the elevators wouldn't go bc when the alarm in that hospital goes off--the elevator automatically shuts down. So he couldn't have gotten anywhere.

I have to say though, I think security and cops have a hard job. Hindsight is always 20/20.