Kennedy Baby Scuffle: What Happened?

On January 7, 2012 Douglas Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, was involved in an altercation with nurses at Northern Westchester Hospital, outside of New York City, as he attempted to leave the maternity ward with his two-day old son. He has since stated that he wanted to take his son outside for some fresh air but was assaulted by hospital staff when he tried to get on the elevator. Video surveillance shows a scuffle but is not clearly on either side. Kennedy did kick one of the nurses in the pelvic area, knocking her to the floor and twisted the wrist of another, but whether he did so in defense of his child or without provocation will be decided by the court system.

It does seem that there is very strong evidence that the nurses were simply doing their job of preventing an infant from leaving the maternity floor. There is no indication that he was attempting to abduct the child by any means but staff does not usually take a poll when hospital rules are clearly being broken.

It’s likely that Kennedy and his wife, Molly, were given multiple forms when they checked in or pre-registered with the hospital and these forms likely included how and when they would be allowed to remove their newborn from the premises. Compounding the mystery is why a father would feel the need to take a two-day old infant outside at 7pm on a January evening. The husband of one of the nurses involved said that Kennedy had removed the infant protection band from his son. This would have undoubtedly resulted in a “Code Pink” which means infant abduction. Nurses and staff would have acted on their training and immediately moved to prevent the infant from being taken. Whether or not they knew or cared that the child was with his father shouldn't be a factor in the immediate as the safety of the boy is the primary goal. Had paternity been established there is still the matter of removing a newborn into other areas of the hospital or outside exposing him to other factors.

In a maternity ward the priorities are babies first, mothers second and that’s it. Any concern for infant welfare is and should be addressed without care to parentage or privilege. That excess force may have been used on either side is regrettable but it seems that hospital staff was simply doing their job.

What do you think about it? You can read the details about the altercation and conflicting opinions.

Accutech Security is the proud manufacture of Cuddles Infant Protection systems, designed to protect infants while they are at their most vulnerable. They also protect parents as well, from the unimaginable. Maybe we a little bit biased here but our life’s work is to make sure a situation like this has a positive outcome.