This is a followup post on the situation at Summerlin Hospital in which a nurse called social services on the parents of a newborn baby girl with a mild level of jaundice. If you need background on the case, you can read my original post with the press release.
We held a peaceful rally in front of Summerlin Hospital Monday morning, March 28. We gathered to show our support for parents’ rights, and let the hospital staff and administration know that parents do have a right to make medical decisions for their child, no matter how old that child is or where a mother ends up birthing her child. In this case, a nurse on their staff grossly overstepped her bounds when she called social services on these parents simply for wanting a natural approach to treating their daughter’s jaundice. Their preferred course of action was supported by the attending pediatrician, who released the baby to go home.
The nurse told these parents that the baby had to go to the NICU, be removed from her mother’s room, and placed in an incubator under “bili lights”. The nurse also misinformed the parents, telling them the baby had to be fed artificial formula instead of breast milk. That is not even supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In fact, the AAP recommends breastfeeding a jaundiced newborn frequently.
The parents have strong community support, as demonstrated by the approximately 65 mothers, fathers, infants, children, midwives and birth professionals who attended the rally. Several television stations covered the rally as well, and much of Las Vegas got to see footage of this support.
You can access the footage from Channel 13 here.
Thanks to all who came out to support these parents. Since the rally, I have been hearing from other parents who had a similar situation happen to them at Summerlin. I am putting their names and contact information together. If you have a story to share, please email me at Jodi@PlacentaBenefits.info.