A pregnant California woman gave birth in a hospital parking lot after being repeatedly turned away by hospital staff. Her baby boy died, and she is suing the hospital.

Hannah Michaelis was 24 weeks pregnant with her first baby, and her mother, Carla Michaelis, told the San Diego Tribune she had sought help from Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa three times in four days due to abdominal cramping and pain.

“It’s her first pregnancy, so all I could think of was, well, maybe, if she’s worried and doesn’t feel right, because she’s a pretty tough girl, then I’m going to have her checked,” Michaelis said.

Amazing Timelapse of EVERY SINGLE DAY of a Child’s Development in the Womb | Window to the Womb

On the first visit, doctors could not find any definitive cause for her cramping and pain, and sent her home. Michaelis was told to see her regular OB/GYN, but by Sunday, the pain had gotten worse.

Her discharge papers said to go to the emergency room if her condition worsened, which is what Michaelis and her mother did.

There, emergency room personnel said she needed to be examined, but in the labor and delivery (L&D) department, which was on the other side of the large hospital complex. They said it would be faster to drive there than to have her wheeled through in a gurney, so that is what the mother and daughter did.

But once they got to L&D, no one was willing to help them.

“I was pleading with them,” Carla Michaelis said. “I said, ‘I need your help. My daughter’s in the car, and she’s in extreme pain. I need someone to come out and help.’ And the nurse said, ‘well, how far along is she?’ and I said, ‘she’s 24 weeks.’ She said, ‘we can’t help you here, you need to go somewhere else.’”

Desperate, Carla ran back to the car and called 911. The San Diego Tribune was able to get a recording of the transcript:

Carla: “She’s six months pregnant, and she’s having excruciating pain. They said they can’t really see her here because, if she is in labor … they can’t take care of it, so they told me to take her to UCSD. I can’t drive her to UCSD, she’s in excruciating pain. She’s screaming.”

Dispatcher: “Okay ma’am … I just want to confirm you’re at the hospital.”

Carla: “Currently, I am. I’m outside the Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Women and Newborns.”

Dispatch: “Okay, unfortunately, the fire department, if you’re at the hospital, we don’t respond to the hospital to take you to a different hospital.”

Inside L&D, however, a 911 call was also made — and it portrayed the Michaelis’ as irrational and unreasonable.

“It’s, I don’t know, she’s yelling and screaming,” the hospital employee told the dispatcher. “I have a nurse going out to her car right now. She was told to go to UCSD yesterday if she had any further complications, and she just kind of stormed out that she was going to call 911, and I was like, no, they’re not going to take you to another hospital anyway.”

Carla went inside to get a wheelchair, and when she came back, Michaelis had begun giving birth inside the car. “Her water had broken and there was blood all over the seat, you know, like amniotic fluid,” Carla said. “She goes, ‘but something else is wrong, I put my hand in my pants and I could feel his arms and legs.’”

Even then, L&D staff did not seem to care.

“She rolled her eyes (and said) ‘there’s no baby yet, it’s just her water broke.’ She didn’t check her, she just moved her from the front seat of the car into the wheelchair with the baby in her inner shorts and wheeled her back into the hospital and took her into a room,” Carla recalled. “I followed behind, and when I got there, they had pulled the baby out of her pants and they were holding him up and he was moving and breathing and making little baby noises.”

Tragically, the baby boy — named Samuel — did not make it. When staff finally took Michaelis inside, they placed her in the wheelchair, without bothering to remove Samuel from her pants, meaning Michaelis was essentially sitting on him.

The Michaelises believe the weight of his mother’s body on his head and torso led to the injuries that caused his death.

While Samuel was born prematurely at 24 weeks, an estimated 60-70% of babies survive at this age if born prematurely. Studies have found, however, that up to 71% of premature infants, even those born before 24 weeks, can survive if they are given active care instead of just palliative care. A growing number of preemies have survived after being born at 21 weeks.

Whether or not Samuel could have survived with better medical care may never be known for sure, but both he and his mother surely deserved better.

A pregnant California woman gave birth in a hospital parking lot after being repeatedly turned away by hospital staff. Her baby boy died, and she is suing the hospital.

Hannah Michaelis was 24 weeks pregnant with her first baby, and her mother, Carla Michaelis, told the San Diego Tribune she had sought help from Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa three times in four days due to abdominal cramping and pain.

“It’s her first pregnancy, so all I could think of was, well, maybe, if she’s worried and doesn’t feel right, because she’s a pretty tough girl, then I’m going to have her checked,” Michaelis said.

Amazing Timelapse of EVERY SINGLE DAY of a Child’s Development in the Womb | Window to the Womb

On the first visit, doctors could not find any definitive cause for her cramping and pain, and sent her home. Michaelis was told to see her regular OB/GYN, but by Sunday, the pain had gotten worse.

Her discharge papers said to go to the emergency room if her condition worsened, which is what Michaelis and her mother did.

There, emergency room personnel said she needed to be examined, but in the labor and delivery (L&D) department, which was on the other side of the large hospital complex. They said it would be faster to drive there than to have her wheeled through in a gurney, so that is what the mother and daughter did.

But once they got to L&D, no one was willing to help them.

“I was pleading with them,” Carla Michaelis said. “I said, ‘I need your help. My daughter’s in the car, and she’s in extreme pain. I need someone to come out and help.’ And the nurse said, ‘well, how far along is she?’ and I said, ‘she’s 24 weeks.’ She said, ‘we can’t help you here, you need to go somewhere else.’”

Desperate, Carla ran back to the car and called 911. The San Diego Tribune was able to get a recording of the transcript:

Carla: “She’s six months pregnant, and she’s having excruciating pain. They said they can’t really see her here because, if she is in labor … they can’t take care of it, so they told me to take her to UCSD. I can’t drive her to UCSD, she’s in excruciating pain. She’s screaming.”

Dispatcher: “Okay ma’am … I just want to confirm you’re at the hospital.”

Carla: “Currently, I am. I’m outside the Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Women and Newborns.”

Dispatch: “Okay, unfortunately, the fire department, if you’re at the hospital, we don’t respond to the hospital to take you to a different hospital.”

Inside L&D, however, a 911 call was also made — and it portrayed the Michaelis’ as irrational and unreasonable.

“It’s, I don’t know, she’s yelling and screaming,” the hospital employee told the dispatcher. “I have a nurse going out to her car right now. She was told to go to UCSD yesterday if she had any further complications, and she just kind of stormed out that she was going to call 911, and I was like, no, they’re not going to take you to another hospital anyway.”

Carla went inside to get a wheelchair, and when she came back, Michaelis had begun giving birth inside the car. “Her water had broken and there was blood all over the seat, you know, like amniotic fluid,” Carla said. “She goes, ‘but something else is wrong, I put my hand in my pants and I could feel his arms and legs.’”

Even then, L&D staff did not seem to care.

“She rolled her eyes (and said) ‘there’s no baby yet, it’s just her water broke.’ She didn’t check her, she just moved her from the front seat of the car into the wheelchair with the baby in her inner shorts and wheeled her back into the hospital and took her into a room,” Carla recalled. “I followed behind, and when I got there, they had pulled the baby out of her pants and they were holding him up and he was moving and breathing and making little baby noises.”

Tragically, the baby boy — named Samuel — did not make it. When staff finally took Michaelis inside, they placed her in the wheelchair, without bothering to remove Samuel from her pants, meaning Michaelis was essentially sitting on him.

The Michaelises believe the weight of his mother’s body on his head and torso led to the injuries that caused his death.

While Samuel was born prematurely at 24 weeks, an estimated 60-70% of babies survive at this age if born prematurely. Studies have found, however, that up to 71% of premature infants, even those born before 24 weeks, can survive if they are given active care instead of just palliative care. A growing number of preemies have survived after being born at 21 weeks.

Whether or not Samuel could have survived with better medical care may never be known for sure, but both he and his mother surely deserved better.