As she was told to leave Franciscan Health Crown Point and had to give birth in her car, Mercedes Wells said she felt less than human.
Now, she wants the hospital staff to be held accountable for their actions.
“Essentially, I was stripped of my dignity,” Wells said. “I was stripped of my dignity as a person and treated like an animal. I almost felt like (the nurse) wanted me to suffer because she watched me suffer and knows how hard labor can be.”
At about midnight on Sunday, Wells arrived at Franciscan Health Crown Point to give birth to her fourth daughter, Alena. She remained at the hospital for about six hours before hospital staff told her that labor wasn’t progressing enough, and she was told to leave.
While Wells and her husband were on their way to Community Hospital in Munster, the baby’s head began showing, and Leon Wells had to deliver his youngest child.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Leon Wells said. “I don’t have a medical license or anything to deliver a baby. I was just so scared.”
According to Google Maps, the two hospitals are about 26 miles away from each other, which can be about a 35-minute drive.
Leon Wells posted videos on Facebook taken by Mercedes Wells’ mother on Sunday. The videos show Mercedes Wells leaving the hospital, holding her baby in their car and crying while she’s in labor.
“Before that recording, she cried unbearably,” Leon Wells said. “It was a cry that I couldn’t imagine, just pleading to stay. I was so upset, but I didn’t want to show it.”
On Tuesday morning, Mercedes Wells, Leon Wells and their lawyer, Cannon Lambert, hosted a news conference in Chicago to address the issue with Franciscan Health. The family has yet to file a lawsuit, Lambert said, because they would like to have a conversation with the health system first to figure out how to proceed.
Lambert said the Wells family shouldn’t have been put in the position they were in.
“We’re not looking to invade (Franciscan Health’s) investigation,” Lambert said. “But what we’re really looking for is accountability. Can we agree that a woman in active labor shouldn’t be sent away? … Can we agree that a woman should not be deprived or a person should not be deprived of health care just because of their gender, race or economic status?”
The Wells family wants a meeting with Franciscan administrators, they said Tuesday. They also want the nurse fired for her actions and for the health system to review their protocols and ensure a similar situation will not happen again.
Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady said in a statement that the hospital is aware of the video and is grateful to see that Mercedes Wells and Alena are doing well.
Dolton, Illinois resident Mercedes Wells was discharged from Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital early Sunday morning because nurses told her that labor wasn’t progressing and she was only dilated 3 cm, according to the family. They were driving to Munster’s Community Hospital about eight minutes later when they had to pull over the car where Mercedes delivered a healthy baby girl. (Wells Family)
“The video and the comments it has generated are deeply troubling, and we understand the concern this has raised,” Grady said in his statement. “The video is just one part of the information we are reviewing as part of a thorough investigation into this alleged incident.”
In his statement, Grady said patient privacy laws “make it difficult” for the hospital to “comment more deeply,” adding that “the videos and the narrative surrounding them do not accurately represent Franciscan Health Crown Point’s Catholic healthcare ministry values, which include respect for life, compassionate concern and Christian stewardship.”
“Our goal is to make everyone who walks through our doors feel the love of Christ through our actions,” Grady said in his statement. “The reality is disparities in healthcare outcomes exist and Franciscan Health Crown Point strives to be part of the solution, not the problem. We remain committed to meeting and exceeding all regulations and best practices for care, and we will take appropriate action based on the findings of our review.”
A representative for the hospital declined to comment on whether staff have heard communication from the Wells family or their lawyer, and if staff is planning to meet with the family and lawyer soon.
“Sometimes, it can be fatal to give birth,” Mercedes Wells said. “And knowing that, (the nurse) still pushed me out of the hospital, and anything that could’ve happened to me or my child could’ve been fatal.”
Mercedes Wells gave birth to Alena about two weeks before the baby’s due date, she said Tuesday morning. Because the couple wasn’t expecting Mercedes Wells to go into labor, she said they went to the Crown Point location because it was closest at the time.
She had given birth at a Franciscan Health hospital before, Mercedes Wells said, and she had no issues.
Before arriving at the Crown Point hospital, Mercedes Wells called ahead and a nurse told her that she would go to the emergency room once she arrived. About 15 minutes after she arrived, Mercedes Wells was brought upstairs at the hospital and put in a room that wasn’t for labor and delivery.
“I told them that I was about 10 minutes apart with my contractions,” Mercedes Wells said. “By the time I got upstairs, I was about eight minutes apart with my contractions.”
The nurse told Mercedes Wells that she would check in about two hours to see where she was in labor, and if she hadn’t progressed, the couple would be sent home.
“She already had it in her mind to send me home,” Mercedes Wells said. “I didn’t think much of it because I was like, ‘I’m having this baby right now. I’m not going home.’”
When the nurse returned, Mercedes Wells’ contractions came closer together, and she was told to take a walk. After the walk, her contractions continued to come closer together, and she was in “pain and agony.”
The nurse then told Mercedes Wells that she still wasn’t far enough along and that she’d have to be sent home, citing orders from a doctor that the couple never saw while at Franciscan Health Crown Point.
“I just thought, ‘I can’t have this baby at home,’” Mercedes Wells said. “It was hard to deal with a person with no empathy because she didn’t show care as any nurse usually would. But, I couldn’t focus on her because I was just focusing on getting through the process of labor.”
The couple left Franciscan Health Crown Point at about 6:20 a.m., Mercedes Wells said, and about eight minutes later, she gave birth to Alena. They went to Community Hospital in Munster for care after, and she said the experience was positive.
Dolton, Illinois resident Mercedes Wells was discharged from Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital early Sunday morning because nurses told her that labor wasn’t progressing and she was only dilated 3 cm, according to the family. They were driving to Munster’s Community Hospital about eight minutes later when they had to pull over the car where Mercedes delivered a healthy baby girl. (Wells Family)
Leon Wells said the nurse at Franciscan Health Crown Point set discharge papers down on Mercedes Wells’ legs rather than handing them to him or his wife. He then had to ask for a wheelchair to take Mercedes Wells out of the hospital.
While leaving the hospital, Leon Wells didn’t say anything to staff, he said Tuesday, because “nothing would be the right thing” to say.
The couple said they were shocked to have a negative experience at Franciscan Health, especially after Mercedes Wells had given birth with that health system before. She doesn’t know how a doctor could give orders to release her when the couple never saw a doctor.
“I have a lot of emotions about it,” Leon Wells said. “I’m mentally messed up because as a husband, as a father, as a protector, I feel like I couldn’t do anything inside the hospital, where it’s proper for a baby to come out. Instead, I had (deliver the baby) when my hands were unsanitary, and I’m holding the steering wheel of a car. It wasn’t right.”
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com