According to a complaint filed by a California lady who went to a hospital with severe labour pains, she was denied assistance, which led to her giving birth to a premature baby who passed away in the hospital parking lot.
On May 4, 2024, thirty-year-old Hannah Michaelis and her mother, Carla Michaelis, headed to Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, an east San Diego community, to receive treatment for “cramping and pain” while she was six months along in her pregnancy. Hannah Michaelis was taken home and instructed to see her usual physician at another hospital, according to the lawsuit and an account of their ordeal given to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The lawsuit claims that hospital employees “denied Hannah entry to the hospital and refused to provide medical care” when Hannah Michaelis and her mother returned to Sharp Grossmont Hospital the next day while she was in “excruciating pain” from contractions.
“The staff rolled their eyes at Hannah and her mother, expressed their annoyance, and turned them away,” the lawsuit claims.
According to the lawsuit, Hannah Michaelis and her mother contacted 911 from the hospital parking lot after being turned away. Carla Michaelis was told by emergency services, however, that they were not permitted to visit a hospital in order to transport a patient to another facility. According to the lawsuit, emergency dispatchers then contacted Sharp Grossmont Hospital employees to enquire as to why a patient was phoning for assistance from their own parking lot.
A hospital employee allegedly told dispatchers during the 911 call, “I don’t know, she’s yelling and screaming … I have a nurse going out to her car right now … she was told to go to UCSD yesterday if she had any further complications and she just kinda stormed out and said she was gonna call 911 … and I was like, ‘No, they’re not gonna take you to another hospital.”
Meanwhile, Hannah Michaelis was still in the car when she gave birth to her baby. “I put my hand in my pants and I could feel his arms and legs,” Carla Michaelis told her daughter, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
A hospital employee allegedly “rolled her eyes” and informed the Michaelis, “There’s no baby yet,” without checking Hannah Michaelis when she came out to the car and the mother and daughter told her what had happened. At that moment, hospital workers transferred Hannah Michaelis onto a wheelchair so she could be taken to the hospital for treatment, even though her premature baby was still in her pants.
A team from Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns arrived to move the baby, whom Hannah Michaelis named Samuel, to a specialised hospital following her initial care at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.
The lawsuit claims that Samuel suffered “injuries to Samuel’s head, shoulders, and neck” in addition to “two high-grade intraventricular haemorrhages” as a result of his mother’s relocation from the parking lot to the hospital and his unplanned delivery at 24 weeks gestation. According to the lawsuit, Samuel died five days later on May 10, 2024, as a result of these injuries, which were allegedly brought on by the hospital staff’s negligence.
The lawsuit also out that Sharp Grossmont Hospital had a newborn intensive care section in addition to the alleged treatment of the Michaelis by hospital employees. The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labour Act of 1986 (EMTALA), which “[required] them to provide appropriate medical screening and treatment to patients presenting with emergency medical conditions, including active labour, regardless of ability to pay, insurance status, or any other protected class,” is another reference in the complaint.
