A hospital has dismissed a doctor and a nurse after a woman was compelled to deliver her baby in a vehicle on the roadside, merely eight minutes following her forced departure from the hospital, despite being in active labor.
Mercedes Wells, along with her husband Leon, arrived at Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital in Indiana on November 16. From the onset, her experience was lacking. Although they had called ahead, upon arrival, the hospital staff were unaware of her details or her doctor’s information.
After enduring a painful wait, and with contractions occurring every 15 minutes, a nurse assessed that Wells was only 3cm dilated. She was instructed to go home on ‘doctor’s orders,’ despite never having seen a doctor personally.
“Well, if you’re not further along in your centimeters, then you know we’ve got to send you home,'” Wells recounted the nurse saying in an interview with NBC.
However, only eight minutes into their drive, Leon found himself delivering their child. He recounted, “I actually see the baby’s head. I see the baby’s head right there. I’m like, Oh, my gosh. I pull over.”
With no prior experience in delivering a baby, Leon did his utmost. “I saw her pushing … pulled a little bit, baby came out and just didn’t know what to do.
“I just prayed.”
Fortunately, Wells’ fourth child, a baby girl, was delivered safely. Despite the challenging circumstances, she is doing well. The delivery, described as ‘awful,’ occurred far from the hospital’s reassuring environment.
The story gained national attention after a distressing video of Wells’ ordeal spread on social media, depicting her in visible pain while being wheeled out of the hospital.
Raymond Grady, CEO of Franciscan Health Crown Point, responded to the incident by acknowledging the video as ‘difficult to watch.’ In a statement, he expressed, “We failed to listen to Mrs. Wells’ concerns.”
Grady further stated, “As an experienced mother who publicly acknowledged having previously given birth at our hospital with a positive experience, she knew something was not right. We must fix what failed in our hospital so that no one experiences what happened to Mercedes Wells.”
Wells’ experience has highlighted concerns about the unequal treatment of black women in maternity care. She described her ordeal as ‘really a horrific’ and said it felt like being ‘treated like a dog, or not even like a dog, like less than.’
She expressed to NBC, “It says that they don’t care at all for Black women in health, and it’s hurtful.
“We thought that, you know, things have changed at this point in our country, and I don’t see a change.”
Leon shared the fear and anxiety he experienced, emphasizing the dangers associated with a roadside delivery and expressing how ‘very hard’ it was to witness Mercedes endure the ordeal.