A 48 year old woman was arrested yesterday after she was caught by hospital employees trying to smuggle a newborn outside a Southern California hospital in a tote bag. Sensors attached to the baby alerted employees who stopped the woman after an alarm sounded when she crossed an imaginary line. The woman, posing as a nurse told the mother of the baby that she needed to take a shower before the doctor came to examine her. The woman then put the baby in a bag and tried to leave. Back in the day before these sensors, this kind of thing happened frequently. The baby was fine and was returned to her mother.
Wow, baby sensors. I guess that's a good thing.
ReplyDelete"Sensors attached to the baby"
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad that we've come to this.
@FSP I don't think we've really "come to this" so much as it's just we have that technology now. Baby-stealing is old as sin.
DeleteThis is OT but not really...look at THIS baby! https://twitter.com/christianmunthe/status/232782214906134528
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear this turned out okay. Modern technology has come so far and I'm glad to see that it's getting put to use.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny Amber.
ReplyDeleteEnty, why didn't you post about the man trying to trade his baby for food at a motel? It's always horrible woman stories lately! I'll just keep imagining you're baiting BoS. He does amuse me so.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it cute, FSP? Do you think they make pygmy gorillas?
ReplyDeleteOn the radio this morning, they were talking about this story. Someone mentioned another story where a "couple" was walking around knocking on doors at a motel trying to sell "their" baby to people for grocery money.
Sometimes I try to ignore the fact that this world is such a scary place, but other people's crazy makes me afraid to bring a child into it.
@amber that's the story I was talking about. It was just a dude though.
DeleteI'm sure they do Amber, after all they make pygmy giraffes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZM_3oayVW4
ReplyDeleteWhen this happens they usually announce a 'code pink' which means someone (either the mom or baby) has left a restricted area while wearing the hospital bracelet (where the sensor is). My friend works in a hospital and this happens often, usually its the mom leaving to go smoke but every once in awhile its a baby snatcher. We had a high profile case in Pittsburgh where a lady murdered a pregnant teen that she befriended in a jail waiting room. The baby boy survived.
ReplyDeleteRCB, in some hospitals, a "Code Pink" is when all available medical personnel are required in a delivery room. This happened when I had my youngest. She refused to cry and was horribly jaundiced, and we ended up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 doctors, nurses, and specialists in and out of our room within the first 20 minutes of her life.
ReplyDelete(Not sure what they would have called as a code for missing child, though.)
@Mary- i had a few friends who worked in hospitals in my area and thats what code pink meant in those places. I remember when my niece was born, she had some lung issues and was not able to breathe on her own for the first few weeks of her life, they always called a code blue when she would stop breathing. It so terrifying when babes are so sick like that, i hope your daughter is doing well!
ReplyDelete"an alarm sounded when she crossed an imaginary line. "
ReplyDeleteReally? Imaginary?
Glad the baby is ok and hope this woman gets the mental health help she clearly needs.
@RCB, she spent time in PICU during the first 3 weeks (jaundice that was responding to treatment, failure to thrive, etc.), but thankfully she's a very healthy, active, and smart 6 year old. Couldn't ask for more!
ReplyDeleteHope your niece is doing well, too.
And I agree, terrifying is a good word to describe that feeling. (The only time the feeling reached horrifying was when the transplant team came in and asked if we were considering donating her organs, should she not make it.)
I wonder if there is a legit psychological diagnosis for this phenomena? Like someone else said, baby-stealing is old as sin.
ReplyDeleteThank god for baby lo-jack. How about that woman in NYC last week sentenced to 20 years for something similar. She got 3 less years than the amount of time the girl was missing!
ReplyDeleteBrenda - It's called dingo-itis.
ReplyDeleteThose alarms went off a couple of times over the two days i was in L&D, or whatever my drugged up ass was in, after my miscarriage. Both times it was because the mother spaced out, thankfully.
Can you imagine someone putting your newborn in a bag? In a bag! Great they got her back, but, I would cry so much thinking of her in that mad woman's bag.
ReplyDelete"Code Pink" is what we used for missing kids when I worked at a water park/resort, too.
ReplyDeleteThis has been around a while. They used the sensors when my daughter was born in 97. Glad the baby is safe with her mom.
ReplyDeleteYup it's baby LoJack. The sensors are before the doors in and out of maternity. Usually a stripe or something is painted on the wall to show moms that babies can't go past it
ReplyDeleteAs a senior in high school I worked at Old Navy and they introduced the Code Adam thing (named for the son of the America's Most Wanted guy)--maybe it's a different name than what they use at hospitals, but if someone came to us and said her kid was missing, we'd have to alert everyone on our headsets and a manager would prevent anyone from leaving the store.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I found stupid was that we'd have to do a Code Adam alert if we FOUND a kid. I guess in case the parents tried to leave them there?
I worked in pediatrics. Code pink was the term for a missing child. Since it was a pediatric hospital, we didn't have neonates unless they were sick (we didn't deliver babies) so we had fewer instances of missing children than the average hospital. Usually a teen who wandered off or ran away.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness Mary! That is beyond terrifying, I'm so glad your daughter is fine! My niece made it as well, and with as loud as she squeals you'd never guess she had any lung troubles.
ReplyDeleteRCB & Mary, we lived your fears too. Our girl was 1 lb 14 oz, born at 25 wks. The lung issues were the worst. She was in respiratory distress so often in the 4 months we spent in the hospital. The codes and alarms never stopped being terrifying. They told us her lungs were like thin sheets of glass that could just shatter anytime. She's a vibrant, nearly 7-year-old now. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteFrequently, really?
ReplyDeletewhen my son was born he had a faulty sensor. Nurses kept coming in and out of the room to check on us and at one point the nurse mentioned to me that they had a full code going because of his ankle sensor. They changed it out.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness the baby is ok. If she wasn't going to be a helicopter mom then, she sure the hell is now.
There is no better place to meet new people than a maternity ward.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of these newborn sensors. I live in a pretty small town in Canada though. I imagine they have them here in the large cities. In our maternity ward the baby never leaves your side anyway, there is no nursery. If you want a shower, you wheel the bassinet in the bathroom with you, and they are all private rooms
ReplyDeleteLOL @ lazyday!
ReplyDeleteWell, the system works. Back in the day my kids hospital bracelets were regular hospital id bracelets. And they slid off pretty easily. So many weirdos.
ReplyDeleteMaternity wards generally aren't very secure. So many non-patients are free to come in and out as visitors at all hours of the day and night. They can often roam the halls if they want. Many do, out of curiosity and also to go to the bathrooms or get drinks / snacks. And as a patient, you are alone mostly, in an unlocked room, perhaps sleeping or sedated, hooked up to IVs and morphine and whatever else. I had two c-sections and during each 5-day stay nothing happened, but I was a nervous wreck that someone would come in (of course post-delivery I wasn't at my most rational anyway). I barely slept. My kids were both in the ICU (they're totally fine now) and although that was so awful at the time, on the upside I knew they were in a very secure, locked ward. I really do think hospitals need to find a better way to keep out people who don't belong, and also to keep patients more protected / secure. Just in case, and also for peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has suffered infertility, I cannot understand stealing another person's child. The cruelty of the act is horrific. I feel this stems from a sense of entitlement that has permeated society. It used to be that people knew they couldn't always get what they wanted, now they expect to have everything they desire. I also agree with dilettante, hospitals need to be more secure.
ReplyDeleteMy son just turned 3 and we had the baby lo jack at the hosptial. Of course, I did deliver a Cedars-Sinai so it was a pretty plush and secure experience.
ReplyDeleteMy niece had one of those things at another So Cal hospital four years ago. They are like police anklets the likes of which Lohan had to wear. The parents can't take it off, it requires a key.
ReplyDeleteIronically enough, the hospital where I work had a code pink (suspected child abduction) just today. I don't know what happened...
Lock her up, that mom had to be terrified and a baby in a handbag? Uggh!
ReplyDeleteMy husband works at our local children's hospital and there it's "Code Lindbergh". My second child (and all subsequent babies) had the baby lo-jack and this was in 1999.
ReplyDeleteMy husband works at our local children's hospital and there it's "Code Lindbergh". My second child (and all subsequent babies) had the baby lo-jack and this was in 1999.
ReplyDeleteMy husband works at our local children's hospital and there it's "Code Lindbergh". My second child (and all subsequent babies) had the baby lo-jack and this was in 1999.
ReplyDeleteMy husband works at our local children's hospital and there it's "Code Lindbergh". My second child (and all subsequent babies) had the baby lo-jack and this was in 1999.
ReplyDelete