According to NBC New York, a nurse in New York was dismissed and is under investigation after a video showed her appearing to slam a newborn baby in a bassinet. Consuelo Saravia and Fidel Sinclair had a baby called Nikko after a “heartbreaking” ordeal at Good Samaritan University Hospital on Long Island, according to the source on Friday.
Sinclair heard his crying child in the NICU and went to view him via the nursery window, according to NBC New York. Despite the curtain being largely pulled, Sinclair was able to record a video of his son as a nurse picked him up, quickly flipped him over, and threw him face-down into the bassinet, according to Yahoo News.
“It just broke me,” Sinclair told NBC New York. “I didn’t know what to do.” He showed the video to his wife, who confronted the nurse and shared it with other medical staff. “I told her ‘I don’t want you to touch my child. You just slammed him,'” Saravia recalled to NBC New York. “She said ‘Oh no, if you think I mishandled him or anything, I’m sorry.'”
A spokesperson for Catholic Health, which runs Good Samaritan University Hospital, told Insider on Sunday that patient safety is “our paramount concern.” “Upon learning of this incident, swift and immediate action was taken, including conducting an investigation and consequently terminating the individual involved. Additionally, we reported the individual to the Department of Health for further review,” said the statement shared with Insider.
The spokesperson added that it is standard practice for staff to draw the “curtains in the neonatal ICU to provide privacy for the patients and their families.” While Nikko is at home and doing well, his family remains shaken by the incident.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t sleep for like three days. It was just really horrible,” Nikko’s grandmother, who asked to be unnamed, told News12 Long Island.
“If it wasn’t for God who sent me to check on him, we would have never seen any of that happen,” Sinclair told NBC New York. “It would have kept happening overnight not only to him but the other babies, too.”
A representative for the Suffolk County Police Special Victims Section told Insider that detectives from the Special Victims Section are investigating. A spokesman for the New York Department of Health told Insider that the department “takes this disturbing allegation seriously” and that an investigation has been launched.