By maxillio for The Kaperville Daily News
PHILADELPHIA, PA — A woman says that after delivering her baby naturally at home, she received multiple visits from social workers to her home requiring her to prove that her baby was healthy and under government-approved medical supervision.
Fatima Doumboya, 22, recently shared the story of her home-birth experience (in graphic detail) with a blog called Ms. Wright’s Way, and bluntly discussed her interactions with doctors, police, and social workers.
The birth itself went peacefully, she said, and for several days afterward, she and her husband stayed home with their new baby daughter. The couple feels some aversion to unnecessary medical interventions — part of the reason they chose to give birth at home — but reluctantly decided to visit a hospital for a checkup on Day #6.
The hospital experience, Doumboya wrote, was infuriating. When doctors found out they had performed a home-birth, she and her husband were allegedly treated as if they were “crazy” and “incompetent fools.”
While at St. Joseph’s Hospital ER in Philadelphia, after some brief checks, Doumboya says that doctors rudely told her that her baby would be transferred — without permission — to another hospital. The supposed reasoning was that St. Joseph’s did not have a dedicated pediatric center. The mom says the decision was made behind their backs and an ambulance was already dispatched by the time she was informed.
Even though nothing was found wrong with her baby, Doumboya says that rejecting the transfer was not an option. A staff member named Dr. Elisa Evans allegedly “came in the room with a stern look and said, ‘If you refuse to transfer her, we WILL CONTACT DHS AND THE POLICE,’” Doumboya recalled.
The mom says that cops appeared and blocked the exit. “The officers stood in front of the emergency room doors — arms crossed and said you cannot leave with your child.“
The baby was involuntarily transported by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (costing the parents $3,320.00). Doumboya says that doctors performed “test after test, hoping to find something.” For four hours this process went on, without the parents’ consent and under the threat of government compulsion. The parents had walked into St. Joseph’s at 10:00 a.m. and were not allowed to leave Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia until 9:30 p.m.
Read the full story, Black Natural Birth Parents investigated by child protective services after giving birth at home | The Kaperville Daily News.
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