The right of parents to determine the course of medical treatment for their children has suffered yet another slap in the face.
On April 29, 2013, a hearing took place regarding the Gestapo style abduction by Child Protective Services of 5 month old baby Sammy after his parents, Alex and Anna Nikolayev, took him out of Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento.
They left Sutter Memorial in order to seek a second opinion at Kaiser Permanente, a rival hospital, for Sammy’s flu-like symptoms.
Anna and Alex sought medical treatment at Kaiser because they were extremely concerned about the quality of care baby Sammy was receiving at Sutter Memorial.
When doctors at Sutter Memorial began discussing the possibility of heart surgery for the infant, the alarmed parents took the baby and left as the medical staff would not discharge Sammy so they could seek another opinion regarding the child’s heart murmur.
“If we got the one mistake after another, I don’t want to have my baby have surgery in the hospital where I don’t feel safe,” Anna said.
She added, ”We went from one hospital to another. We just wanted to be safe, that he is in good hands.”
While at the second hospital, medical staff determined Sammy was fine. The attending doctor at Kaiser said in a written statement, “I do not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents.”
Despite the all clear from the medical staff at Kaiser, CPS escorted by armed police showed up at the Nikolayev’s home the next day and took baby Sammy in outrageous and dramatic fashion.
Anna’s home video of the incident shows police entering the home.
“I’m going to grab your baby, and don’t resist, and don’t fight me ok?” a Sacramento police officer is heard saying in the video.
Prior to abducting the baby without so much as a warrant, Alex was slammed against a wall, pushed to the ground and his house keys forcibly removed from him after meeting with officers outside.
Worst of all, after taking the baby, CPS returned the child to the protective custody of the exact same hospital the parents had originally fled to seek a second medical opinion – Sutter Memorial – for wanting to perform unnecessary open heart surgery on the infant.
Court Hearing a Slap in the Face to Parent Rights
At a hearing on the matter, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Paul Seave determined that custody should be immediately returned to the parents.
The Nikolayevs can now see Sammy whenever they want. They also supposedly now have full control over the child’s medical decisions.
In reality, however, the Nikolayevs are still under the thumb of CPS and their rights as parents continue to be violated.
Rather than the child returning home where the parents would continue under the care of medical staff at Kaiser Permanente which was their original choice, baby Sammy was transferred by court order to yet a third hospital – Stanford Medical Center.
The judge also ruled that Anna and Alex must follow all medical advice from now on, including not taking their child from Stanford Medical Center without proper discharge.
Why are Anna and Alex being forced to follow the medical advice of Stanford Medical Center and not the medical staff at Kaiser Permanente who determined the child was safe at home for the time being?
Why is this child still in the hospital and not at home and under the supervision of the medical staff the parents originally chose?
Most alarming, Child Protective Services is still involved with this case even after its Gestapo style abduction of the child as captured on home video.
While Sammy will be returned to the custody of his parents upon discharge from Stanford Medical Center, CPS will continue to monitor the situation with regular home visits by a social worker.
Why is CPS being permitted by the court to monitor this child when the parents did nothing wrong?
Inexplicably, Alex and Anna are still vulnerable to future action by CPS for the “crime” of seeking the medical care for Sammy that they saw fit.
Welcome to Soviet Amerika comrades.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Judge Orders Transport of Baby Sammy to Stanford Medical Center
Baby Taken By CPS Returned, Parents Ordered To ‘Follow All Medical Advice’
I am thankful they have him back. It is disgraceful they took him in the first place. Don’t they have better things to do with spending our tax money. I would’ve gone ballistic if they had taken one of my babies! For shame!!!
Get a life CPS – stop trying to run other people’s lives. It’s none of your business!!
What happened to the days when the medical establishment had to take the parents to court to over rule the parents? Now the government makes the calls? Scary.
@ Heather: Sarah did mention that the baby had a heart murmur. I’m guessing you skimmed the article and missed her mentioning it.
I would also like to add that heart murmurs in babies are quite common. Their chest cavities are smaller, so the heart has less space and is even kind of sideways because of the smaller space. Once they grow up and the chest cavity grows, most murmurs are corrected on their own. The proper medical intervention would be to MONITOR the murmur, not do surgery. Another article also mentioned that the parents knew their baby had a murmur, and had been seeing a cardiologist prior to taking their baby to the hospital when the baby fell sick with the flu. The cardiologist never suggested surgery for the murmur before, so they questioned the hospital that wanted to operate immediately.
Maybe think twice about chanting USA USA next time and come move to Canada!
This happens in Canada, even in the west. I have a family friend who has taken in foster children all her adult life and has regularely had children taken from her care because they were getting better, not worth as much money to the system. The hospitals ask for more than their share of info and signing of papers for the rights to do things to you and your baby when giving birth. I only go to midwives and know which hospitals I trust and which I do not (there was a major difference between each as to how invasive they were). Not to mention our country is generally more socialist (medical care anyone?). I love Canada, but it is a “real” country with real issues like any other. It’s best to be wise.
Oh, my heart breaks!! Praying for this family.
I really prefer your home-economist stuff. child/individual legal cases really aren’t what I read you for. 🙂 JMHO
Rachel Dede, maybe you should, your rights are being stripped away. JMHO 🙂
This kind of story is what makes me want to go to law school. The police, hospital, and docs would be paying this family some money for this gross violation of civil liberties.
The people at the bottom of the scale are normal everyday good intentioned people, not the ones who are actually callng the shots and running the show.
Sorry love, but it IS frequent. CPS is not the only organization like it. There are hundreds. All over the world, in every country. They ARE legalized kidnappers. Your experience with them is one tiny little corner of the whole schemozzle, therefor i do not take your experience as definitive. How about YOU do some research, speak to some of the families all over the world who have had their children kidnapped by the authorities. Have a listen to some of their stories and then tell me you still have the same stomach-churning respect for these government agencies. How disrespectful and ignorant to say this is infrequent. How dreadful to be someone this has happened to and have to read all those pathetic excuses.