Trump Admin Launches Investigation of OH Hospital That Left Premie Twins to Die

Amanda Finnefrock held her dying baby and pleaded with hospital staff to save his life.

“You guys are gonna save him, right?  Promise me they’re gonna save him. … Please save him!”

Now the Ohio hospital that left her two premature sons to die is facing a serious investigation by the Trump administration.

Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio is being investigated by the federal Department of Health and Human Services for allegedly denying medical care to Finnefrock’s premature infant twins.

According to LiveAction.org, Finnefrock was bleeding when she went to the hospital and was scared for the lives of her twin sons.

Still early in her pregnancy, she was told that the hospital would not attempt to save them during delivery unless they were born after 22 weeks and five days gestation.

The two boys were born three days later — exactly 22 weeks and five days gestation — and were breathing and moving on their own.

But according to Finnefrock, hospital staff provided no medical care and did nothing to help her boys.

Emery, Finnefrock’s first son, was born without any hospital staff present.  In video of the birth, which we’ve linked below, she is heard crying and pleading for help.

“You guys are gonna save him, right?  Promise me they’re gonna save him… look at him.  Please save him!”

Despite her pleas, Emery was wrapped in a blanket, placed beneath a lamp, and abandoned.  He lived for 45 minutes before dying.

Elliott, Emery’s twin brother, was moving and crying when born, showing more promise of survival than his younger sibling.

But according to Finnefrock, hospital staff did nothing to help him.  He lived for more than two hours, with Finnefrock holding him and crying, “Mommy tried, Mommy tried.”

“Though I repeatedly asked staff to help or assess my babies, I was told they were born too young.  But there is no documentation to prove they were born too young,” Finnefrock said in a statement.

According to LiveAction.org, doctor’s notes verify that the twin boys were born at 22 weeks and five days.

“Nevertheless, when I begged for help, they refused,” Finnefrock said.

“I was discharged with instructions for care after stillbirth.  But Emery and Elliot were not stillborn.

“They were born alive and died as Riverside Methodist Hospital staff denied my pleas for help.”

HHS is now investigating the hospital for violating the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA), which was enacted in an executive order by President Donald Trump in September.  HHS civil rights office is also investigating to ensure no other civil rights violations took place.

EMTLA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

Additionally, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act ensures that all infants born alive “at any state of development are considered persons … and are therefore afforded the same legal protections as any other person.”

Under the act, infants born alive and premature are entitled to medical services and should not be denied medical care “on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about the infant’s relative ‘worth’ based on the presence of disabilities.”

“HHS’s mission is to protect the health and well-being of all Americans, and that means all Americans—including infants born prematurely and infants with disabilities,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.

“The President’s Executive Order is another step by the most pro-life President in American history and ensures that we provide the same protections for innocent infants who are born premature or with disabilities that we provide for every other American.”

Finnefrock is now working with an Ohio state senator on legislation to help protect future premature children.

“I am so thankful to finally have acknowledgement from our government that what Riverside Methodist Hospital did is wrong,” Finnefrock said in a statement to pro-life group Created Equal.

“I am praying that they are held accountable for what they have done to my beautiful sons and everything they put our family through.  I also hope that with this new Executive Order by the president, babies all around the country will be saved no matter the circumstances.”

“They all have value and worth.”

You can watch the heartbreaking video posted from Created Equal here: