The fight between Douglas Kennedy and the maternity ward nurses at Northern Westchester Hospital continues, though without the apparent physical confrontation. Kennedy, the youngest son of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, claims that he had permission to take his two-day-old baby for a walk outside the hospital (the newborn was not yet discharged) but the nurses claim that no supervising nurse signed off on the jaunt. And now the hospital is supporting the nurses.
On January 7, maternity ward nurses stopped Kennedy and physically blocked him from leaving. He allegedly twisted the wrist of one nurse, Anna Lane, and when another nurse, Cari Luciano, moved forward to "stabilize the baby's head," Kennedy allegedly kicked Luciano in the pelvis. Video shows Luciano falling backwards, and Kennedy himself fell backwards (the newborn was okay). Kennedy was charged with harassment and child endangerment last week, but he and his wife Molly issued a statement, "We are sickened by the fact that our simple desire to take our healthy baby son out for a walk has been warped into child endangerment. Nobody should try grab a baby from a parent’s arms, as these nurses tried to do."
Rules in maternity wards are generally very strict and, today, Northern Westchester Hospital issued a statement explaining, "Patient safety is our priority and we completely support the actions of our nursing staff in this case as they were clearly acting out of concern for the safety of a newborn baby." The lawyer for the nurses claim that Kennedy's actions prompted them to issue a "code pink," which is when it seems like someone is trying to abscond with a baby.
On the other hand, Roger Ailes, president of Fox News (which employs Kennedy as a reporter), is trying to bolster Kennedy's character. The Journal News reports that Ailes offered a statement, "[Kennedy] tells the truth and his calm and gentle demeanor always impressed me. He is the definition of a great father and it is a role he cherishes over all others. I support Douglas as do the independent eyewitness accounts of the event. It is unfortunate that what appears to be a father’s defensive maneuver to protect his newborn baby has been twisted because of his famous name. In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father." FWIW, nurse Cari Luciano claims she was reaching towards the newborn to "stabilize the baby's head."
Regarding the independent witness accounts: The one that has been mentioned is from ER doctor Dr. Timothy Haydock, who has been friends with the Kennedys for decades. Haydock called the nurses "aggressors" and said there was nothing wrong with taking the baby outside. But Luciano's husband says, "I don’t think that anybody, even a Kennedy, should go around kicking hospital personnel and believe there are no ramifications."
