HENRICO, Va. – A hospital in Virginia has paused all neonatal intensive care unit admissions after multiple babies were found with mysterious bone fractures and other injuries.
Three pre-term babies were found with bone fractures at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, outside of Richmond.
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“In late November/December, we discovered that three babies in our Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU had unexplainable fractures, similar to an incident involving four babies in the summer of 2023,” the hospital said in a post on their website.
HCA, the network that oversees Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, went on to say: “While fractures occasionally happen with pre-term babies since they lack full fetal bone development, we are actively working to determine how these fractures occurred.”
Henrico officials say there is a team effort underway to get to the bottom of what - or who - is causing harm to premature babies at the hospital.
“We are doing whatever we can to protect them,” Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said.
The Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office is backing Henrico Police, and other local and state agencies, investigating how seven babies in total ended up with unexplainable injuries.
Four cases were reported around the summer of 2023, and three more were reported in November and December of this year.
No one was found at fault in last year’s investigation.
“While it has been reported that CPS did conclude that matter sometime this past year, it is my position, and together with the other agencies, Henrico Police, that that is also going to be part of the current investigation,” Taylor said. “The public should know that those four babies from 2023 are also still part of the current investigation.”
Our NBC affiliate in Richmond reports: Noah Hackey was one of those babies from 2023.
The Hackey family said Noah was doing well in the NICU at Henrico Doctors’ until suddenly, he had a broken leg.
They shared a letter that they received from Henrico’s Department of Social Services detailing the findings of a Child Protective Services investigation into Noah’s injury. It said, in part:
“This agency received the Child Protective Services report on September 21st, 2023, alleging physical abuse of Noah Hackey by an unknown abuser. Following a thorough Child Protective Services investigation, this agency has determined the disposition of this report to be FOUNDED, LEVEL ONE, for physical abuse of Noah by an employee in the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU. A founded disposition means a review of the facts shows by a preponderance of the evidence that child abuse/neglect occurred. A ‘level one’ finding indicates the injuries/conditions, real or threatened, did or were likely to have resulted in serious harm to the child.”
But they could not determine who was responsible.
“Everybody wants to see what we can do to find out how this happened, whether it be intentional or not intentional, just finding an answer for how this could happen so we can put an end to this,” Taylor said.
HCA said they have taken steps to enhance safety at that NICU including training, additional exams of each baby, two new security systems, a camera system that records all activity in NICU rooms 24/7 and is available for viewing in real time or at a later date, and live-streaming technology allowing parents to view their babies.