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Hospital fires staff after mom gives birth on highway
A disturbing viral video is prompting major changes tonight at Franciscan Health Crown Point Hospital. A doctor and nurse who discharged a mother while she was in active labor are no longer employed at the hospital. The Wells family says the nurse was only in the unit a few months and they never saw the doctor.
CROWN POINT, Ind. - A northwest Indiana hospital has fired two employees after a woman gave birth on a highway minutes after being sent home.
What we know:
On Friday, Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady said the physician and nurse directly involved in 38-year-old Mercedes Wells’ care "are no longer employed" following a "careful review" of the incident.
Grady apologized publicly, saying the hospital "failed to listen to Mrs. Wells’ concerns" and that "Compassionate concern is absent when a caregiver fails to listen to a patient who is clearly in pain and vulnerable."
What's changing:
Grady announced several steps aimed at preventing similar incidents, including mandatory cultural competency training for all labor and delivery staff and a new policy requiring that a physician examine every pregnant patient before discharge.
"We must fix what failed in our hospital so that no one experiences what happened to Mercedes Wells," Grady said.
The backstory:
According to the Wells family, Mercedes spent six hours inside the hospital. She says that moments before staff discharged her, her water broke. Despite that, Mercedes says a nurse insisted she wasn’t dilated enough — and that the couple never saw a doctor.
Eight minutes after Mercedes was wheeled out of the hospital’s front doors, she went into full labor on the highway. Leon was forced to deliver their baby girl, Alena, inside the family’s pickup truck.
New details emerge in highway birth after mother’s hospital discharge
A Northwest Indiana family is speaking out after they say a hospital sent a pregnant mother home — only for her to give birth minutes later on the highway.
Baby Alena is doing well. FOX 32 has reached out to the Wells family for comment on the changes, and we're waiting to hear back.
What they're saying:
"I'm glad they made those moves to move forward in disciplining the women that was involved. However, we're not done," Merceds said. "I mean, this really, this is a issue that's worldwide. So it's just, it's a lot to be done."
"It's sad that we had to go through this. A lot could have happened. You know, like I said, I have no prior training. I don't know what I was doing. By God's grace, he gave me the ability to deliver my baby safely and get there safely and not freak out," Leon said.
"They should make a public apology, unequivocal in nature, saying, we apologize that this happened, we know it was wrong," attorney Cannon Lambert said. "Two, they should have the administrators of the hospital, the people who make policy and then actually put policy into place, meet with the family. And then three, we should talk about what sorts of remedies need to be put in place for this family."
What's next:
Grady said Franciscan Health Crown Point is "committed to holding ourselves accountable through our actions" and that "Any evidence of actions to the contrary will not be tolerated."
He added that the hospital has reached out to the Wells family and that he hopes to meet with them in person soon.
The Wells family says no one has reached out to them.
The Source: The information in this story came from Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady and previous FOX 32 reporting.