A Jacksonville-area family claims their newborn was given to another mother for breast-feeding.
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It’s said to be one of the happiest moments of your life when your baby is born.
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But for Albert Phillips, the memory was tainted when their newborn was mistakenly given to the wrong mother.
“To me this is more than just a mistake, this is bigger than a mistake,” Phillips said.
Phillips said the nurses at Orange Park Medical Center came to take their son, Roman, for his circumcision surgery, but when he was gone for more than an hour, he said he started questioning the medical staff.
“They came back about an hour, hour-and-a-half afterwards to inform us that they gave my son to another parent and that parent breast-fed him,” Phillips said.
Phillips says their son was wearing two hospital wristbands and doesn’t understand how another woman was able to breast-feed their newborn.
Local parents tell me their newborn was mistakenly given to another mother at the hospital and was breastfed. Orange Park Medical Center is now investigating how the mix up happened @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/xb8VOMmlvv
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) September 28, 2018
“You have all these protocols into place to where this doesn’t happen ... and you just gave my child to another mother,” Phillips said.
Their main concern is their child’s health. Phillips said the hospital isn’t giving them any answers regarding the other woman who breastfed their baby.
“They told us we couldn’t get any information from her because of the HIPAA law and that right there was very uncomfortable,” Phillips said.
The hospital is now investigating how this happened and sent Action News Jax the following statement:
“The hospital will do everything we can to follow the family’s wishes and support the family.”
The state agency that oversees hospitals is also looking into the incident. Roman’s father says the medical staff said they couldn’t run tests on him since he is too young @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/UkxlZYmQv3
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) September 28, 2018
The family said they want tests run on their son for any health issues, but the hospital said he is too young and they will have to wait and see if there are any problems.
The family also said they have been speaking with lawyers all day and plan to pursue legal action.
The Agency for Health Care Administration is also looking into the situation.
Cox Media Group
