Patient takes baby from hospital room, no charges filed

[Mela99]

This has been going viral all over my FB. A woman was asleep beside her hospitalized baby and another patient allegedly heard the baby crying. She came and took the baby, all her things, and went back to her room. Mom woke up, freaked out, found the baby surrounded by nurses in the woman's room. Woman tried to convince her to go back to her room. The police say no charges because the woman didn't intend to harm the baby and the hospital is saying they didn't do anything wrong either.

http://wkbn.com/2016/08/09/ark-mom-wakes-in-hospital-to-find-baby-missing-found-in-another-patients-room/

What galls me the most is this woman gave an interview and said she was proud of her actions, and she "stepped up." Seriously, who thinks "gee, a baby is crying beside her mother, I'll just take her" instead of waking the mother, or I don't know, getting a nurse? 

http://raycomgroup.worldnow.com/story/32723237/woman-believes-she-was-right-removing-baby-from-hospital-room

This story is making me extra ragey.

 

[Khan]

Walking off with a stranger's baby is "stepping up?" What the hell? I'd be ripping that woman a new one along with anyone in that Hospital who knew what was going on. 

[carebaer]

I get no charges being filed.  The woman didn't leave the building and there's no evidence she made any attempt to conceal or harm the child.  It might be difficult to get any kind of conviction based on her actions.

However, the hospital should be taking this way more seriously.  Just because it isn't necessarily illegal to move and play with a stranger's baby while her mother sleeps does not make it okay.  The hospital should absolutely be addressing both this incident and their general protocol for protecting pediatric patients.

[dawbs]

The baby lo-jack they use at the hospitals in L&D is generally (IMO, which may not be popular) both overkill (since it's highly unlikely to be a problem and is fairly useless (because it's easy to override and, really, my kid still got handed off w/ anyone who wore anything resembling a uniform when they asked.  Apparently, if any of those people were baby-nappers, she pointed out she was colicky and they brought her back, so all was well).

But you'd think "oh sheesh, we didn't think it would scare you, so sorry" (from that patient and the nurses) would have done a LOT to make this, you know, not the sort of incident that made the papers and scared people away from the hospital.
(Do none of these people ahve that customer service skill where you apologize while not admitting wrong doing?  And while still thinking you're right?  but while shutting up the customer? )

[Khan]

This one has grabbed me. If the woman had taken a stranger's ringing phone and purse because  "It was ringing and I didn't want to wake her." Hell would have broken loose. Taking a tiny helpless person is a big deal. 

[turquoise]

Given that the baby was sick enough to be hospitalized, it seems that a stranger with no information about the baby's medical needs could unintentionally have done something to make things worse.

[Anny Nym]

Quote

The other patient, Snyder claims, followed them back to her room and persisted she give the child to her and that Snyder should rest.

That sounds to me as the woman did not kidnap or harm the baby YET when the mother found her girl with the suspicious stranger (and obviously a whole room full of nurses with their naivety filter on level 10.000) .

 

[Petrel]

So if it's not kidnaping to take someone's kid as long as you don't intend to harm them, is there a loan period like for library books? If I borrow the kid for a week is that ok?  A couple months? Years?  This doesn't make sense. 

[Khan]

@Petrel, what a great idea! I've got a very kid friendly dog that needs exercise while I'm recovering. I'll go borrow someone's kid for a few months instead of getting a dog walker.

[VelociRapture]

I'm due in January and these stories make me so anxious and so ragey at the same time. Anxious because it could happen to anyone, including us. Ragey because of the completely irresponsible response from the staff. And how fucking creepy that other patient is to not only remove the child from the room, but to fucking follow them insisting the mother let her have the baby.

On what fucking planet is this normal and acceptable?!?!?!   

[Four is Enough]

This is all kinds of fucked up. I think the woman should have a psychiatric evaluation immediately.

[Gobsmacked]

31 minutes ago, Four is Enough said:

This is all kinds of fucked up. I think the woman should have a psychiatric evaluation immediately.

So should the staff who were on duty. I would sue them all.

[devoe364]

18 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

I'm due in January and these stories make me so anxious and so ragey at the same time. Anxious because it could happen to anyone, including us. Ragey because of the completely irresponsible response from the staff. And how fucking creepy that other patient is to not only remove the child from the room, but to fucking follow them insisting the mother let her have the baby.

On what fucking planet is this normal and acceptable?!?!?!   

So much this. Fortunately I know several nurses in L&D at my local hospital (there is only one that does births and two total), and I know for a FACT that they would not allow this AT all. 

[CelticGoddess]

On August 15, 2016 at 5:58 PM, Khan said:

Walking off with a stranger's baby is "stepping up?" What the hell? I'd be ripping that woman a new one along with anyone in that Hospital who knew what was going on. 

In my book, walking off with a strangers baby is called kidnapping.  She might not have meant harm but she did cause mental distress to the mother.  

I have had to stay in the hospital with my children when they were sick (actually, my son had surgery).  It's exhaustion and sometimes you do fall asleep.  That is NOT an excuse for a total stranger to take your child.  You call the nurse to have her check on the child.

[RosyDaisy]

I agree. This is kidnapping in my book. If the baby hadn't been found that quickly, I'm not so sure the baby wouldn't have been harmed or taken off hospital grounds.

[LadyCrow1313]

I don't have children myself, but I can't imagine what terror the poor mother must've felt. I know how my sister would've reacted (plus my parents) if something like this happened when my niece was born.

I know the US has a lot of frivolous law suits for some truly outrageous things, but a lawsuit in this situation? Absolutely justified.

 

[Geechee Girl]

Lemme get this straight. An infant, who is a patient, was crying loud and long enough to not garner the attention of staff? No one walking the halls or at the nurses station saw anything? A thief was able to remove an infant in distress, a diaper bag, IV pole, AND a crib??? How, Sway? 

[Mela99]

I just can't imagine what situation where this would be okay. There isn't one. And for this woman to have the audacity to defend herself is beyond me. 

Even if I believe that the baby was crying -- which I'm not sure I do, I know what it's like to be asleep in a hospital and have the tiniest squeak make you jump ten feet. There's no way that kid was crying long enough and loud enough to get the attention of someone in the other room and not of her own mother an arm's length away OR of the nurses entrusted with her care. 

Even if she was crying - so what? Babies cry. It happens. Unless the kid was on fire, what business is it of yours? I just can't believe there's a situation where it's "I better take this baby and all her stuff rather than wake her mom or get a medical professional." 

And my god, what if that baby had been seriously ill and something went wrong ? How would the crazy ass patient know? 

I'm not even a parent and this is beyond me.

[dawbs]

FWIW, when my daughter was born (almost exactly 6 years ago now...), we weren't allowed to carry her around in the hallways.
EVER.  FULL STOP.
Staff made it really really really clear.  Carry her around the room all we want.  Put her in the little wheely crib and roll her all around the hospital for fun and games, sure.  But we were not free to carry her around the hallway--because she was a patient in the hospital.  So kinda like I had to sit in a wheelchair to be wheeled to the door, she had to be in her wheely crib to be in the halls.

I'd be shocked (REALLY shocked) if that's not par for the course at a lot of hospitals--which would raise another red flag that no one cared someone was carrying around another patient.

 

[Anny Nym]

I don´t

5 hours ago, Mela99 said:

I just can't imagine what situation where this would be okay. There isn't one. And for this woman to have the audacity to defend herself is beyond me. 

Even if I believe that the baby was crying -- which I'm not sure I do, I know what it's like to be asleep in a hospital and have the tiniest squeak make you jump ten feet. There's no way that kid was crying long enough and loud enough to get the attention of someone in the other room and not of her own mother an arm's length away OR of the nurses entrusted with her care. 

Even if she was crying - so what? Babies cry. It happens. Unless the kid was on fire, what business is it of yours? I just can't believe there's a situation where it's "I better take this baby and all her stuff rather than wake her mom or get a medical professional." 

And my god, what if that baby had been seriously ill and something went wrong ? How would the crazy ass patient know? 

I'm not even a parent and this is beyond me.

 

 

The bolded! That whole scenario the  babynapping-woman described doesn´t add up at all.

IMHO it is much more likely the baby was not crying at all, the woman simply sneaked into the room, because she is not right in the head and wanted this baby. So she took it while Mom was asleep.

The nurses claiming they "know the patient" may be a bit of a clue here. Maybe this woman had to spend already quite some time in the hospital and was therefor acquainted with the staff, who saw her as a kind of poor harmless weird lady and that´s because they trivialized her actions?

[Mela99]

I don't work in a hospital so I might be wrong here -- but why would a pediatric patient and a long term adult with sickle cell be in the same ward? Don't peds have their own wards for this exact reason?

[Anny Nym]

2 hours ago, Mela99 said:

I don't work in a hospital so I might be wrong here -- but why would a pediatric patient and a long term adult with sickle cell be in the same ward? Don't peds have their own wards for this exact reason?

Usually yes, but may depend on the hospital´s equipment. If it´s a very small one or overcrowded (one hears the craziest stories about patients on hallways and such things)  then they may house her in a normal station?

[nastyhobbitses]

If I were the mom, I'd have extended that lady's hospital stay by another few weeks.

If this didn't happen in a hospital -- if someone just snatched a baby and walked off, even without any intent to harm the baby -- this would be treated as an abduction. Which it very much was. I suppose I understand not pressing charges, but that patient needs to be supervised at all times now, and the mother should be compensated in one way or another.

[bluelady]

On August 17, 2016 at 11:32 PM, dawbs said:

FWIW, when my daughter was born (almost exactly 6 years ago now...), we weren't allowed to carry her around in the hallways.
EVER.  FULL STOP.
Staff made it really really really clear.  Carry her around the room all we want.  Put her in the little wheely crib and roll her all around the hospital for fun and games, sure.  But we were not free to carry her around the hallway--because she was a patient in the hospital.  So kinda like I had to sit in a wheelchair to be wheeled to the door, she had to be in her wheely crib to be in the halls.

I'd be shocked (REALLY shocked) if that's not par for the course at a lot of hospitals--which would raise another red flag that no one cared someone was carrying around another patient.

 

This was the rule at my hospital when my son was born 2 years ago. 

[FundieFarmer]

I don't work in a hospital so I might be wrong here -- but why would a pediatric patient and a long term adult with sickle cell be in the same ward? Don't peds have their own wards for this exact reason?

That's what I was thinking! Granted we have adult hospitals, women and babies, and children's all in different buildings in the main systems here so they wouldn't even be in the same building in my city but...sheesh. What a mess.

I don't buy that the baby was crying.