I am also an RN. I worked at Christ Hospital for a year between the time of August 1998 to August 1999. I am now presently a pediatric nurse in Charlottesville.
During this time, I witnessed three cases. When I first started, I was on day shift. I walked into the Soiled Utility Room to throw something away, and laying on the metal part of the table with nothing underneath, there was a fetus, a baby, moving vigorously, just laying there.
I went out to find the nurse who was responsible for this baby, and she said that the mother had been what they call a therapeutic abortion, as Jill had explained, and that she just didn't have time to do anything with the baby at the time, and that if I could, could I wrap the baby and put the baby in a warmer.
So I went to the Soiled Utility Room, wrapped the baby, and held the baby and found a warmer and placed the baby in the warmer. And for about two and a half hours, the baby maintained a heartbeat, the baby was alive. And for me, that was a new experience. I was there working in a high-risk facility. My patient was a 23-weeker, ruptured, who was trying to save her baby, laying in Trendelenburg position with her head down. So, therefore, I took care of a mom and I took care of an aborted baby.
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The next case that I actually participated in was I had come on to shift and there was a patient that had delivered a baby, a 20-week fetus who had spina bifida. The baby, once again, was alive and the baby had a heartbeat. It took an hour and 45 minutes for this baby to finally expire.
Once again, my question was: What was the right of this baby? Some of the nurses said to me, ''Just leave the baby in the warmer,'' and some of them said, ''Comfort the baby.''
When I was at Christ Hospital, no one explained to me what we were supposed to do, and there was—nurses were doing all various kinds of things.
The last case that I experienced while I was there was a 16-week fetus that was aborted, and the baby was supposed to have had Down's. And the baby at 16 weeks was born with a heartbeat, and the parents thought that the baby would die right away because it was so early. The baby ended up living for approximately 45 minutes, and during this time, the parents were very upset and kept questioning me and other nurses: how come their baby wasn't dead, when was their baby going to die, why was their baby alive?
For me as a nurse in a labor and delivery unit, this was confusing. It was confusing for all the nurses. It was confusing for the parents. They thought they were just doing something good, but yet they had to sit and ask questions of when their baby was going to expire.
For us as nurses, we are taking care of babies that we really want to survive, and we are taking care of babies that are supposed to just die.
This is the statement that Allison Baker prepared for Congress:
In August of 1998 I began working in a high risk labor and delivery unit at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois. When I was hired, I was informed of a procedure called ''therapeutic abortion'' which was performed in the unit. This procedure was reserved for babies with particular conditions such as Down's Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Potter's Syndrome and many others. It was explained to me that in these cases, the mother would have an induced labor to expel the fetus in order to discontinue growth and life. This was an elective procedure and the patient was to be informed of all the details it involved.
Between August of 1998 and August of 1999, I witnessed three particular cases of therapeutic abortions at Christ Hospital first hand. The first occurred on a day shift. I happened to walk into a ''soiled utility room'' and saw, lying on the metal counter, a fetus, naked, exposed and breathing, moving its arms and legs. The fetus was visibly alive, and was gasping for breath. I left to find the nurse who was caring for the patient and this fetus. When I asked her about the fetus, she said that she was so busy with the mother that she didn't have time to wrap and place the fetus in the warmer, and she asked if I would do that for her. Later I found out that the fetus was 22 weeks old, and had undergone a therapeutic abortion because it had been diagnosed with Down's Syndrome. I did wrap the fetus and place him in a warmer and for 2 1/2 hours he maintained a heartbeat, and then finally expired.
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The second case involved a couple who had requested a therapeutic abortion for their 20 week fetus with Spina Bifida. My shift started at 11:00 PM, and the patient delivered her fetus about 10 minutes before I took her as a patient. During the time the fetus was alive, the patient kept asking me when the fetus would die. For an hour and 45 minutes the fetus maintained a heartbeat. The parents were frustrated, and obviously not prepared for this long period of time. Since I was the nurse of both the mother and fetus, I held the fetus in my arms until it finally expired.
The third case occurred when a nurse with whom I was working was taking care of a mother waiting to deliver her 16 week Down's Syndrome fetus. Again, I walked into the soiled utility room and the fetus was fully exposed, lying on the baby scale. I went to find the nurse who was caring for this mother and fetus, and she asked if I could help her by measuring and weighing the fetus for the charting and death certificate. When I went back into the soiled utility room, the fetus was moving its arms and legs. I then listened for a heartbeat, and found that the fetus still was alive. I wrapped the fetus and in 45 minutes the fetus finally expired.
Click here for the complete congressional record of that day
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