MUNSTER, Ind. — A couple who said they were left alone to deliver a baby in their vehicle after being turned away early Sunday from Franciscan Health hospital in Crown Point, Indiana is calling for someone to lose their job.
Mercedes Wells as seen in a widely circulated video.
"Accountability looks like making certain that the woman who made the decision to kick her out of this hospital doesn't work there anymore," Chicago-based attorney Cannon Lambert said in a broadcasted statement.
The couple, who have identified themselves as Mercedes Wells and husband Leon, of Dolton, Indiana, said they were at the local hospital for six hours early Sunday and despite having contractions as little as one minute apart, were never seen by a doctor, according to news reports. Mercedes claims a nurse treated her she as though she was not in active labor and sent the couple on its way.
Mercedes and Leon got in their vehicle and were reportedly headed to Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana when eight minutes into the drive she gave birth.
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"I was scared," Leon is reported as saying.
"I didn't know what to do," he said. "I just prayed."
A video of the ordeal has since circulated widely online.
Mercedes is reported as saying, "I just don't understand how, as a licensed healthcare worker, you could turn someone to the door to leave that's in excruciating pain. I was stripped of my dignity."
Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady, in a statement issued Monday, called the video “deeply troubling” and said officials are conducting an internal investigation into the alleged incident.
Raymond Grady
Grady said the hospital is “grateful to learn from online and media reports that both mother and child are reportedly doing well.”
“The video and the comments it has generated are deeply troubling, and we understand the concern this has raised,” Grady said. “The video is just one part of the information we are reviewing as part of a thorough investigation into this alleged incident.”
The video shows Mercedes in a wheelchair, apparently struggling with labor pains, in what looks like a medical facility. It then shows her being wheeled out and reportedly sent to another facility before ending with her holding a newborn in a vehicle.
Some social media users have accused the hospital of racism, noting that the woman is Black.
Grady said patient privacy laws limit what the hospital can share but stressed that “the videos and the narrative surrounding them do not accurately represent Franciscan Health Crown Point’s Catholic healthcare ministry’s values, which include respect for life, compassionate concern and Christian stewardship.”
“Our goal is to make everyone who walks through our doors feel the love of Christ through our actions,” he said. “The reality is disparities in healthcare outcomes exist, and Franciscan Health Crown Point strives to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
Grady added that the hospital “remains committed to meeting and exceeding all regulations and best practices for care” and will take appropriate action based on the findings of its review.
Several posts online compared the video to a recent incident in Dallas where another Black woman in labor was allegedly ignored at a hospital.
Times Staff Writer Adrian Martinez-De La Cruz contributed to this report.
