The unthinkable happened for one Arkansas mom who claims her infant was taken from her hospital room and then found later in another patient’s room after the child’s treatment. Absolutely horrifying, right?
Lory Beth Snyder opened up on social media about the terrifying incident this past Friday at NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Snyder was in the hospital with her 4-month-old child, who was getting treatment. When she woke up from a nap, her baby was gone. She was interviewed by KAIT 8, stating:
“I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.”
Snyder said she eventually found her baby in a stranger’s hospital room–in the woman’s arms “with a room full of six or seven nurses just laughing and playing with her.” This sounds like something right out of a Stanley Kubrick film, does it not? “The Shining,” anyone?
Snyder claims she took her child back, despite the other patient telling her to “just go rest.” Even weirder, the child’s diaper bag and IV pole were there, too. But that’s not all: The nurses followed her back to her room, saying everything was fine, they knew the patient, and that the baby wasn’t “in danger.” The other patient even followed her back to her room and kept asking to take the child back.
You’d think the hospital would be absolutely horrified about these events. Sadly, however, it seems the hospital isn’t confirming or denying the situation–Brad Parsons, the hospital’s CEO, said there is currently an ongoing investigation, and that Snyder and her child were moved to a secure room in the ICU:
“We are working with our risk management department as well as the Jonesboro police on that investigation.”
Wait for this one, though: Snyder contacted the Jonesboro Police Department and says they told her no crime was committed since the other patient didn’t intend to “harm the child.”
The NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital also released this statement:
“An incident occurred in one of our patient care units (not labor and delivery) on Friday involving two patients, one of them a pediatric patient. While we cannot go into details because of patient privacy laws, two of our nurses acted immediately, followed all protocols, and rapidly brought the situation under control. Because of their quick work, all patients remained safe. Our nurses quickly secured the pediatric patient and mother and fully cooperated with police, who declined to take action against anyone.. We are grateful that everyone is safe, and we wish everyone the best and continued good health.”
Regardless of their statement, it seems to me that the situation has been dreadfully mishandled–and I don’t see how entering a patient’s private hospital room is at all OK. Snyder remains extremely confused herself, having said:
“You do not enter a room and take a child that does not belong to you, especially from a person you don’t know. I want some answers, and I don’t feel like I’m getting them from that hospital.”
How utterly awful. I can’t even imagine how one recovers from this kind of violation.
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