A hospital mix-up, involving newborns, caused one mother severe anguish upon learning that her baby was breast fed by a stranger, as reported by the New York Post.
L.W., 33, of Brooklyn, claims that hospital workers made the accidental switch. She is distraught as she has no way of discovering if the other mother practiced the same clean lifestyle that she had employed during pregnancy.
L.W. doesn’t smoke, drink alcohol and, during her pregnancy, abstained from even a sip of soda.
After her child’s birth in 2008 she filed a lawsuit against Long Island College Hospital (LICH) as she wanted to know all that she could about the health of the other mother. L.W. told reporters, “I asked, ‘Did she smoke during pregnancy? Did she drink? Does she have any disease? Can I meet her?’”
At the time LICH refused to divulge any information on the other party as they claimed that it was against privacy laws. The courts agreed with the hospital.
The child, now 3 years old, is healthy, so the courts felt that it was a non-issue.
Of the first court decision L.W. said, “I was very upset, (saying,) ‘You guys gave my baby away, and how can you now tell me you're going to protect her privacy?’ I still do not know to this day who this woman was.”
L.W. recounted the incident beginning with a nap she had soon after the May 2008 birth. A nurse came into her room in the maternity ward with a bassinet and a baby.
L.W. remained napping, bassinet and baby Jayln – presumably – at her side.
When L.W. woke once to use the bathroom she noticed that something wasn’t right.
She allegedly saw nurses rushing to switch the baby in her bassinet with one from another room – while pretending that all was normal. J.W. asked, “I said, ‘What's going on?’ and (one nurse's) words were, ‘I will be right back with this baby.’ She lied to me, and said they had to take the baby to get tested for diabetes.
A little while later, (the nurse) came back, she looked at my (hospital I.D.) tag, and she looked at the one on the baby and said, ‘OK.’”
L.W. contends that she only learned the truth about the mix-up from her pediatrician – the doctor had overheard two of the nurses gossiping about the mistake.
In 2008 L.W. sued in Brooklyn Supreme Court for “extreme emotional pain, suffering and anxiety.” Her attorney, Lisa Pashkoff, claims that her client was concerned that her child could have been injured in the incident and, if the hospital had even given her the correct child after all.
The New York Post reported that at this time J.W. doesn’t want to subject Jayln to a DNA test because she loves her. J.W. said, “I spent many sleepless nights. I have cried because I am not 100 percent sure she's mine, she doesn't look anything like me.”
While a Supreme Court justice ruled that J.W. could proceed with her suit, the appellate panel, after the hospital appealed, agreed with the hospital. The panel said that parents cannot recover damages for mental distress or an alleged injury to someone other than themselves.
In this case, the someone other that J.W. is Jayln.
J.W. is now bringing the case to the Court of Appeals.
For any reason that a stay in the hospital is necessary, ill care is not. Contact a medical malpractice attorney today to file your lawsuit and gain monetary compensation for your pain and suffering.