A former neonatal intensive care nurse at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan is facing four child abuse charges after a 4-month-old patient was found with multiple fractures and bruises. The baby girl was born at just 23 weeks in November and had been receiving care in the hospital’s NICU since birth.
According to an affidavit, nurse Kieran L. Ansley was covering the night shift for the baby’s regular nurse in early March. The next morning, he reportedly told the parents their daughter had slept through the night, but the hospital’s computer system showed a 2 a.m. care time had been completed. When the parents entered the room, they noticed their daughter’s tongue was blue and almost black and found new bruising after unwrapping her swaddle.
An investigation by the hospital’s dayside care team and the Center for Child Protection found fractures in the baby’s femur, both tibias and left fibula, along with bruising on her arms, tongue, abdomen, buttocks and shin. Ansley has been charged with two counts of second-degree child abuse and two counts of fourth-degree child abuse, and he is no longer employed by the hospital. For families here on the Suncoast, many of whom have spent time in NICUs at Sarasota Memorial or Johns Hopkins All Children’s, the case raises real questions about supervision and transparency in newborn care.
Have you ever had a child in the NICU? What helped you feel confident in their care team?
