Lawsuit Claims Hospital Staff Dismissed Laboring Mother

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Background: Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Calif. (Google Maps). Inset: Hannah Michaelis holding her son Samuel (Photo from lawsuit).

A woman from California who experienced intense labor pains and visited a hospital has filed a lawsuit claiming she was denied assistance, leading to the birth of her premature baby in the hospital parking lot. The infant later passed away.

Named Hannah Michaelis, aged 30, she was six months pregnant with her first child on May 4, 2024. Along with her mother, Carla Michaelis, she traveled to Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, located in east San Diego, seeking help for “cramping and pain.” The lawsuit and their account in the San Diego Union-Tribune stated that Hannah Michaelis was sent away and advised to consult her regular doctor at another hospital.

However, her condition worsened, and amid “excruciating pain” from contractions, Hannah Michaelis and her mother returned to Sharp Grossmont Hospital the next day. As per the lawsuit, hospital staff allegedly “denied Hannah entry to the hospital and refused to provide medical care.”

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According to the lawsuit, “the staff rolled their eyes at Hannah and her mother, expressed their annoyance, and turned them away.”

The lawsuit stated that after being refused help, Hannah Michaelis and her mother called 911 from the hospital parking lot. However, emergency services informed Carla Michaelis that they could not come to a hospital to bring a patient to another hospital. Emergency dispatchers then called the staff at Sharp Grossmont Hospital to ask why a patient was calling for help from their own parking lot, the lawsuit says.

In the 911 call, a hospital staff member reportedly told dispatchers, “I don’t know, she’s yelling and screaming … I have a nurse going out to her car right now … she was told to go to UCSD yesterday if she had any further complications and she just kinda stormed out and said she was gonna call 911 … and I was like, ‘No, they’re not gonna take you to another hospital.””

In the meantime, Hannah Michaelis gave birth to her son while she was still in the car. Carla Michaelis told the San Diego Union-Tribune that her daughter told her “something else is wrong, I put my hand in my pants and I could feel his arms and legs.”

When a hospital staffer came out to the car and the mother and daughter told her what happened, the staffer reportedly “rolled her eyes” telling the Michaelis’ “There’s no baby yet” without examining Hannah Michaelis. At that point, hospital staff moved Hannah Michaelis — while her premature newborn was still in her underwear — onto a wheelchair to be transported into the hospital for treatment.

After her initial treatment at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, a team from Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns arrived to transfer the baby, whom Hannah Michaelis named Samuel, to a specialized facility.

According to the lawsuit, Samuel’s unexpected delivery at 24 weeks gestation plus the transfer of his mother from the parking lot to the hospital “caused injuries to Samuel’s head, shoulders, and neck” as well as “two high-grade intraventricular hemorrhages.” These injuries, the lawsuit alleged, were caused by the hospital staff’s negligence and ultimately led to Samuel’s death five days later on May 10, 2024.

In addition to the alleged treatment of the Michaelis’ by the staff at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, the lawsuit noted that the hospital is equipped with a neonatal intensive care unit. The complaint also cites the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA), which “[required] them to provide appropriate medical screening and treatment to patients presenting with emergency medical conditions, including active labor, regardless of ability to pay, insurance status, or any other protected class.”

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Sharp HealthCare told Law&Crime:

Sharp HealthCare caregivers are committed to providing high-quality care to all patients. While we cannot comment on cases in litigation, Sharp has found that often, when patient incidents are publicly reported, the timeline and information differ from what actually occurred. We cannot offer any additional details about the case at this time. Our hearts go out to this family, and all families, when any life is lost.

Janna M. Trolia, the attorney representing Carla and Hannah Michaelis, told Law&Crime: “Instead of holding their son/grandson in their arms, the family is immersed in this lawsuit seeking accountability for his suffering and tragic passing, which forces them to relive the traumatic circumstances surrounding Baby Samuel’s birth and death. Despite the emotional toll, they remain determined to seek justice for their family and protect other families from experiencing such devastation.”