(3-30) Octuplets: Updated list of posts
March 25th statement by Gloria Allred on behalf of Angels in Waiting (AIW)
[Emphasis added]
On March 9, 2009, Nadya Suleman and “Angels in Waiting USA.org” agreed to work together and both signed a “Declaration of Principles”, which were developed for the protection of her babies and other children.
We believe that Nadya has violated a number of those principles and that she has also attempted to renege on the principle of transparency to which she had also agreed.(Documentation attached)
[I didn't see any in the download. Follow update link to see the principles.]
Principle I stated that the best interests of Nadya’s children should, at all times, be the paramount consideration with respect to all decisions made concerning their health, safety and welfare. This principle was violated in many ways, and we will elaborate on quite a few.
First, Nadya announced to the public, including the media, when the first babies were coming home. This resulted in a forseeable frenzy of hundreds of media and onlookers coming to her home for the expected arrival. In addition to the danger presented to the babies by the chaotic situation outside of the home, she and her attorney permitted a dangerous and unhealthy environment inside of the home for the babies arrival.
Inside, media was permitted to set up dirty camera and light equipment, electrical cords, and audio equipment inside the very small nursery which held the cribs and rocking chair. The nursery had been sanitized by the nurse for the benefit of the high risk premature babies, but the presence of the media and many of their reporters, producers, camera men, audio personnel and others changed all of that immediately for the worse. It substantially increased the possibility of infection for these precious little babies and the loud noises, and shouting and decision to have talent also hold and feed the babies increased the risk of harm to them emotionally and physically.
At one point, Linda West-Conforti, tried to rescue one of the babies in the garage and remove the infant from the car seat after the paparazzi swarmed the car, and a loud noise which sounded like a gunshot had gone off. Instead of being permitted to rescue the infant and being thanked for putting herself in peril to rescue the infant, she was told to “get out of the shot”. Also later in the nursery, when one infant regurgitated some milk, another nurse was temporarily blocked from assisting the infant who needed suctioning in order to make sure that a taping of Nadya feedings would not be interrupted.
All of this was made worse for the babies by the conduct of Jeff Czech, Nadya’s attorney, who entered the house like a raging bull, screaming, pointing and waving his finger about one inch from the face of one of AIW’s nannies and myself. He was shouting and yelling obscenities to our AIW nanny, stating “get the f out of here, all of you are fired”, and then hit his hand hard against the outer wall of the nursery. This violent atmosphere and loud noise we believe, had a negative impact on the babies who had just come from a quiet hospital nursery.
Also Nadya’s other children were permitted to touch the new babies without sanitizing their hands and many of the numerous people allowed into the nursery also had not sanitized themselves.
All AIW personnel were extremely concerned by the violence and threats of violence . One of the AIW representatives was crying. I told Jeff not to touch me. Linda told him she would “deck him” if he did.
Nadya, as the mother of these babies and other children is responsible for the dangerous environment in her home which she permitted and even encouraged by allowing the media inside, with no security provided and little or no boundaries set.
The babies appeared to be treated as props after their feeding. Nadya handed them off to the nurse to be cared for while she slept all night.
After March 17, the nurses had many concerns about the babies, Nadya’s extremely minimal involvement or even apparent interest in the babies unless cameras were rolling were among their concerns. For example, AIW spent a total of 102 hours in the Suleman home. Out of this time Nadya spent only 8 hours in the nursery. Much of the time she was out of the house shopping and when she did return she often did not stop at the nursery to see the babies or inquire about how they were doing. She was encouraged by AIW to feed, hold, change and bathe the babies herself, but rarely did it. One baby went for days without being bathed. Finally the nurse did it when Nadya continued to give excuses as to why she could not.
There were many other concerns as well. Security was not provided and Linda will address the specifics of that issue including the fact that 2 intruders entered the property after March 17, 2009 and even though Linda and I asked for security measures (see my e-mail to Jeff) appropriate security was not provided for the babies, nannies and nurses. Another issue is that AIW had a major concern about the nannies that Nadya had obtained to care for the babies.
Finally, although on behalf of AIW, I asked Jeff to arrange for a meeting in person or by telephone with AIW, Nadya, Jeff, myself, and Dr. Phil to address our continuing concerns about the health, safety and welfare of the babies, he would never agree to such a meeting and instead kept insisting that AIW agree to a non-disclosure clause and non-transparency and he insisted that I was not permitted to speak to Nadya about our concerns or anything else.
On Sunday morning, I sent an e-mail to Dr. Phil stating that under the circumstances we could not continue. On Sunday afternoon Jeff sent an e-mail terminating AIW.
Nadya admits that she knew about AIW’s complaint to child protective services which they are required by law to make if they believe babies or children are endangered. We believe that may have been the reason that she and her attorney made the decision that they did to terminate AIW.
We are now concerned about the future of the children. Nadya has decided to have Kaiser Permanente care for her babies. In other words, she has apparently made a conscious decision to put the burden of her babies care on the tax payers, since her lawyer Jeff has conceded publicly that Kaiser nurses will most likely have to bill Medi-Cal. Further Kaiser nurses and doctors will be silenced and not be permitted to speak publicly about the specifics of the care that Nadya gives or fails to give to her babies.
This is advantageous to Nadya and her lawyer since the public will only be told their side and will not be able to get all of the facts as they could if Nadya had kept her agreement with AIW and Dr. Phil to allow supportive care by AIW, and complete transparency by permitting Linda to speak.
We ask what are they trying to hide and why?
Our concern is and always has been the protection and the care of these babies. If the past week is a predictor of the future, we are not optimistic. AIW, the strong advocates, the voice of these babies has been silenced, in the only way that Nadya and Jeff could.
We wish the best for Nadya and these babies and their six siblings, but we can now only pray to God, that Nadya’s poor choices, money making schemes, and improper priorities will not result in irreparable harm to any or all of her children in the future.
Gloria Allred
Attorney at Law
representing AIW
March 25, 2009
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