As a mom of a newborn baby, Consuelo Saravia worries like most mothers about her little one. But it was baby Nikko's time in the NICU at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip that has shaken her.
"It was heartbreaking," said Saravia. "I couldn’t stop crying, I couldn’t even sleep."
The baby was only two days old and being kept in the NICU for observation because doctors were administering antibiotics. Nikko’s dad, Fidel Sinclair, went to see him and saw him crying through the window of the nursery.
He decided to record video of his new baby boy, when he captured the unthinkable: A nurse appears to roughly pick up Nikko, turn him around and slams him face first back into the bassinet.
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"I don’t know, it just broke me," said Sinclair. "I didn’t know what to do."
He showed the video to Saravia who confronted the nurse.
"I told her 'I don't want you to touch my child. You just slammed him,'” Saravia recalled the conversation. "She said 'Oh no, if you think I mishandled him or anything, I’m sorry.'"
Consuelo showed the video to the other nurses and administrators. Catholic Health, which runs Good Samaritan, told NBC New York that "upon learning of this incident, swift and immediate action was taken, including conducting an investigation and consequently terminating the individual involved. Additionally, we reported the individual to the Department of Health for further review. Keeping our patients safe remains our paramount concern."
"There were a lot of babies in there and it made me feel like if that happened to Nikko who else did that happen to," questioned Sinclair, who also said "I find it messed up that in a room like that they have all the curtains closed."
Sinclair was fortunate that the curtain was lifted just enough for him to be able to see his son and for him to record what happened, especially because the parents say there were no security cameras in that room.
Asked about the use of curtains, Catholic Health said, "It is standard procedure to have closed curtains in the neonatal ICU to provide privacy for the patients and their families and because services are being administered at the bedside. Immediate family members are permitted inside the neonatal ICU to spend time with their loved ones."
The state Department of Health told NBC New York that they take this "disturbing allegation seriously. As this is an open investigation, the Department cannot comment further. All hospital complaints are kept confidential and at the conclusion of an investigation the outcome is shared with the complainant."
Suffolk Police say their Special Victims Unit is investigating.
Baby Nikko is doing well at home, but Sinclair is thankful he decided to check on his son when he did.
"If it wasn’t for God who sent me to check on him we would have never seen any of that happen," said Sinclair. "And It would have kept happening overnight not only to him but the other babies, too."
