A nurse has been arrested after several babies suffered “unexplainable fractures” while in a neonatal intensive care unit in Virginia.
On December 24, Henrico Doctors Hospital announced in a press release that it “will not be admitting any additional babies to our NICU at this time” as three infants were discovered with fractures in late November and December. What makes the situation even more worrying? The injuries were “similar to an incident involving four babies that occurred in the summer of 2023.” One of these injured babies was Noah Hackey. By WTVRhis parents, Tory And Dominique Hackeydiscovered he had a fractured tibia while in the NICU in September 2023. Dominique recalls:
“A nurse was standing over Noah and swaddling him, looked back and said I noticed his left leg wasn’t moving, it was a little discolored, I told the doctor about it staff, I took some x-rays and we determined that he had a fracture in his leg, so we’re going to splint him for the next two weeks, and then she asked me, do you want to hold him?
Related: Devastating twist in missing 1-year-old baby revealed after fatal car crash
However, the couple said no. The father explained:
“In my mind I’m like, I don’t want them to turn on us and say we broke his leg or something, so I was like no, we don’t want to hold him, we let’s just go to process this.
At first, Dominique claimed the hospital made the injury look like an accident. But then the couple later received a letter from the Henrico Department of Social Services revealing what had happened as quite the opposite. The memo stated that “following a (thorough) investigation by CPS, this agency determined that the disposition of this report was based on Level 1 for physical abuse of Noah by a hospital NICU employee Henrico Doctor’s.” In Virginia, level one is the most serious level of child abuse or neglect. OH MY GOD.
The father told the outlet that the hospital said it couldn’t determine who hurt all of these babies — until now. An investigation was launched into the horrific situation, leading to the arrest of a hospital nurse: Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman.
According to a press release obtained by People, Henrico County Police confirmed Friday that the 26-year-old faces “charges of intentional injury and criminal child abuse in relation to an incident that occurred in November 2024.” At this time, the investigation is still ongoing. Henrico, police chief Eric D. English said police were reviewing all the evidence, including “dozens of videos from inside the NICU” and the 2023 and 2024 cases:
“We appreciate the patience of the families and the public as we work as thoroughly and quickly as possible to investigate every piece of evidence related to these cases. I would also like to recognize the unwavering efforts of our detectives who continue to sift through hundreds of hours of footage and express my sincere gratitude to Henrico Child Protective Services (Department of Social Services), the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office of Henrico County, the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Health and the Attorney General’s Office for their assistance in this matter.
HCA Virginia also recognized People that the arrested suspect was a former hospital employee, saying:
“We are both shocked and saddened by this development in the investigation and strive to continue to care for our patients and provide support to our colleagues who have been deeply and personally affected by this investigation. We are grateful to our colleagues who have dedicated their professional lives to the care and safety of our patients, as well as to the law enforcement and other agencies who have worked aggressively and tirelessly with us on this investigation. For more than 30 years, the NICU at Henrico Doctors Hospital has provided necessary and life-saving care to babies in central Virginia and we remain focused on ensuring this care is available in our community.
As for how the fractures occurred? We don’t know at the moment. The hospital said in December that “although fractures sometimes occur in premature babies because they do not fully develop fetal bones, we are actively working to determine how these fractures occurred.” It has since “taken immediate steps to improve safety measures” within the NICU, according to the release, such as incorporating safety training programs, additional head-to-toe examinations of each NICU baby, installation of new security systems, live streaming technology and more. The hospital added:
“The safety of our babies in the NICU is our top priority and we are actively working to take additional precautions to prevent any future incidents. »
How scary that someone could have intentionally hurt these poor babies! The parents must be so upset and want answers about what happened ASAP! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
If you have genuine reason to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
(Image via Henrico County Sheriff’s Office)