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’
*They
The took the baby immediately from the 1st hospital to Kaiser Permanente. The Dr there released the baby to go home with the parents. The first hospital was negligent, a nurse allegedly gave the baby antibiotics (against a dr’s consent), and as parents, they are well within their rights to seek a second opinion on such a dangerous procedure. If we were being completely honest, we would openly admit that this has happened, in part, because the parents are originally from another country. They are being railroaded by the original hospital, the Sacramento PD, CPS, and worse, the State of California, and all of these entities thought they could do this because, well, it’s California. The best thing for the parents to do, once their case is “closed”, is move to a different state.
Crazy!
Thats very troublesome. One hospital says the baby needs heart surgery and one hospital says the baby is fine. I back the judge on a 3rd opinion here. I’m interested on that diagnosis.
CPS needs to be removed from this situation, and that is an understatement. While determining a 3rd opinion may be advised in this situation it should not have been the judge’s or CPS’s decision, as these are clearly responsible parents which they demonstrated by the fact that they took their child from a clearly unstable situation (wrong prescriptions, no second opinion option, low information, coercion) to another hospital. Any responsible parent would have done the same thing.
If CPS and the powers that be truly want to help the family and show that they have the child’s best interests at heart, why take the baby to the very hospital where the parents expressed concern? Why not, in good faith, take the baby to another reputable hospital, in order to make the situation better? That is really sticking in my craw every time I read this. Why hasn’t an attorney rushed to their aid, even as a pro bono case? So many questions, and they all breed mistrust in the system.
Ashley Pollard, they did take baby to another hospital. The were discharged from that hospital and went home.
You have no rights when you give over so many liberties to the government.
The “if this makes us safer/if I have to pay more in taxes to benefit/ if I have to give up *insert liberty here* to have *insert whatever you want here* I will.” Has to stop. Bc obviously no one reaslized this is why government can do this w out being subject to repercussions.
We did it America. We allowed this. Its time to be the FREE country we were supposed to be
We didn’t allow it, we were indoctrinated through our media and schools. People are waking up though.
Is there anything that we can do to support these parents and help this situation?!
I never said that the parents shouldn’t decide their health care course.
I am stating only that serious details are omitted here, which provide a fuller understanding as to what happened. As I said, the police and CPS were completely out of line.
Most people are up on this. You are not the only person to have more information that is expressed in a small post. It is still outrageously wrong. These were good parents, well aware of the baby’s heart murmur. They kept the baby under a doctors care continually. They alone have the right to choose the doctor and the hospital they feel comfortable with for the best care of their child. It is NOT the place of the government…or job security for CPS.
Heather,
“serious details are omitted here”…..? Your second point “2). The couple expects the baby to have heart surgery at Stanford and their beef doesn’t appear to be about that, just the strong arm tactics of CPS.” That’s TOTAL speculation on your part. You have no idea if they have “a beef” with that or not. Why should Sara include your conclusion in her article? They are required by law now for the baby to have the surgery. My son, now 18 months, was born with and continues to have a heart murmur. It’s being monitored. Most kids outgrow them, but because of the publicity of this case I am guessing a CYA going on.
Sara, you omitted that from your article. I think your not giving the “whole story” because you didn’t include my speculation. The surgery is a CYA.
I had a murmur as a child but outgrew it. I’m a very healthy 36 yo mom
Heather, wake up please.
But your “serious details” were wrong! You accused Sarah of not mentioning the heart murmer- when she clearly did- in fact, it was right at the beginning 5 lines in. The mature thing to do would be to apologize for YOUR oversight and for your accusatory comment telling her she is “biased” when you turned out to be the unfactual and biased one.
this is what comes when people want the entity known as “the government” to fix everything that is wrong in this world.