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Two Fort Worth hospitals handle woman's premature births very differently
Feb 12, 2012 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
This is a story of two hospitals, two babies and one heartbroken mother.
Brittnie Gonzales, 22, was expecting twins. On Jan. 22, in the 22nd week of her pregnancy, she was shocked when she gave premature birth to two girls.
The first arrived while Brittnie was still in her Burleson home. As the second prepared to be born, Gonzales was hustled into an ambulance that took off for Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth.
Her mom, Rhonda Melton, was placed in another ambulance with the firstborn, Monica. Monica was so petite that she fit in her grandmother's palm. En route, though, Monica's vital signs began slipping. Protocol requires an ambulance driver to go to the nearest hospital. That's how Monica and her grandmother ended up at Huguley Memorial Medical Center.
At Huguley
Melton recalled what happened in the emergency room:
"While I'm standing there, they're looking her over, not even touching her. A nurse looked at the doctor and said, 'Should we even bother?'
"I lost it. I started yelling at her, 'What do you mean? That's a baby. At least try.'"
An EMT from the ambulance crew took her out in the hall to calm down. He hugged her tightly.
"Then I went back in the room, and a guy came up to me and said, 'What's her name?'
"'Monica.' Then he said, 'When is her birth date?' And I just looked at him. 'Seriously? She was just born.' He kind of rolled his eyes at me and said, 'Oh, my bad' and walked away. I was so shocked.
"After that, they told me there was no meaningful recovery. Her lungs were not formed. I knew that. I knew she couldn't live for long."
She gave permission to take Monica off the respirator.
"They stopped giving her the oxygen mask, and they wrapped her up and handed her to me. ... I said, 'Her heart is still beating.' 'Oh no,' they said, 'that's just electrical pulses. That's nothing.'
"One nurse said, 'Are they about to go away? We may need this room soon.'
"It was just a bad experience. We left there finally. They didn't give us clothes for her. She was naked and cold. They wrapped her in a pillow case and sent her to the morgue."
Later, the grandmother asked the hospital for an heirloom birth certificate. It's not a legal document, but it has the feel of a birth certificate.
She said Sterling Warren, the emergency department director, wouldn't give her one. He said the baby wasn't born there, so it wasn't proper.
He asked, though, whether there was anything else he could do.
"Yes," Melton said she answered, "you cannot bill the insurance company. You didn't do anything but put an oxygen mask on her."
He answered, "I'll transfer you to the billing department, and you can talk to them."
At Harris
The mother arrived in the ambulance, and afterward, the second baby was born. Her name was Lauren. She died a day later.
The mother stayed for several days recuperating. Nurses there got together and made a mold of Lauren's feet and hands.
"They were so compassionate," Melton said. "They even sent clothing for both babies to be buried in."
When they found out that Huguley wouldn't give an heirloom certificate for Monica, Harris gave the family a second one.
"A hospital that never even saw her sent her something," Melton said.
Harris has a Perinatal Grief program that focuses on the needs of families that lose a child. Follow-up phone calls are made, and there's a "grief tree" where relatives can place mementos.
The hospital collects baby clothing for such losses, too.
Huguley administrators
Top executives at Huguley say competent staff tried to save Monica in the ER.
Considering the baby's condition, "there probably could not have been a better outcome, but there could have been a better experience," President/CEO Kenneth Finch said.
Staff members must tell a family about the likely outcomes, he said.
Finch also said the hospital chaplain prayed with the grandmother. The hospital also gave the family a memory box with a pink knit cap worn by Monica, along with other items used during her brief stay there. Footprints were taken on a sheet of paper for the family, too.
Finch said he understands why the family felt better about the Harris experience: The other baby was born in the hospital, and the mother stayed there several days and bonded with the staff.
Huguley didn't get that opportunity.
Aftermath
Finch says the experience will bring changes at the hospital. Families in such situations will leave the ER for a quieter place to grieve.
Also, he said, "we aren't billing for anything in this case."
Last week, he sent an heirloom certificate to the family.
The hospital will institute a training program. "We're going to work on that so we talk to families in a way that people know we're concerned and compassionate when sharing difficult news."
The training program will be called Remembering Monica.
Last weekend, after the family raised money from friends to help cover expenses, Monica and Lauren were buried in a shared coffin in Morgan Cemetery in Bosque County.
The Watchdog column appears Fridays and Sundays.
Dave Lieber, 817-390-7043
Twitter: @davelieber
___ (c)2012 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Visit the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at
www.star-telegram.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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