Hospital Doctor And Nurse Fired After Turning Away Woman In Labor 8 Minutes Before She Gave Birth

A doctor and nurse at an Indiana hospital who allegedly turned a woman away while she was actively in labor are no longer employed with the facility, hospital officials announced.

“The physician and the nurse directly involved with Mrs. Wells’ care are no longer employed by Franciscan,” Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Raymond Grady told PEOPLE in a statement on Friday, Nov. 21.

On Nov. 16, Mercedes Wells and her husband, Leon, arrived at the Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital after calling to give a heads up the day prior. However, when they arrived, Wells said hospital staff told them to go home and wait for her labor to progress, ABC affiliate WLS previously reported.

Cell phone video footage showed Wells, now a mother of four, breathing heavily in a wheelchair inside of the hospital before she was escorted out by security.

In an on-camera interview with

she said when she first arrived, she “was met with really stern faces. No welcoming faces as I usually would get when I go to a hospital, or a place of care.”

She added that despite being in “excruciating pain” and “agony,” the nurse who checked on her said she was not far enough along to be admitted.

Wells gave birth to her daughter, Alena, just eight minutes later in her husband’s car on the side of the road.

“The video was difficult to watch,” Grady says in his statement, adding that it “does not reflect the values of Franciscan Health Crown Point, which include respect for life and compassionate concern.”

“Compassionate concern is absent when a caregiver fails to listen to a patient who is clearly in pain and vulnerable,” he says. “We failed to listen to Mrs. Wells’ concerns. As an experienced mother who publicly acknowledged having previously given birth at our hospital with a positive experience, she knew something was not right.”

After being turned away, the Wells family retained a lawyer, alleging that they were treated unfairly because they are Black, Fox affiliate WFLD reported.

Grady adds, “We must fix what failed in our hospital so that no one experiences what happened to Mercedes Wells.”

In addition to the doctor and nurse involved being terminated, Grady has “mandated cultural competency training for all labor and delivery staff,” and mandated that “all pregnant patients leaving the Labor and Delivery unit will be examined by a physician before they leave the hospital.”

“On behalf of Franciscan Alliance and Franciscan Health Crown Point, I apologize to Mrs. Wells and her family for failing to live up to our Franciscan values,” Grady said. “We are committed to holding ourselves accountable through our actions so that every patient is heard and receives compassionate, equitable care. Any evidence of actions to the contrary will not be tolerated.”

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Grady shared he has reached out to Wells, and hopes to meet with her and her husband soon.

After delivering Alena in her husband’s vehicle, Wells was taken to Community Hospital in Munster to receive care, CBS News reported.