Parents Claim They Couldn’t Get Access To Their Newborns Due To Birth Of Jay-Z And Beyonce’s Baby

Lenox Hill Hospital Issues Statement, Calls Media Reports Inaccurate

January 9, 2012 10:10 PM

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their daughter Blue Ivy Carter this weekend, and issued the following statement Monday:

Hello Hello Baby Blue! We are happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, born on Saturday, January 7, 2012. Her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful, we are in heaven. She was delivered naturally at a healthy 7 lbs and it was the best experience of both of our lives.

We are thankful to everyone for all your prayers, well wishes, love and support.

– Beyoncé & JAY Z

However, the joyous occasion has landed Lenox Hill Hospital in the middle of a controversy.

One new parent at the hospital is furious, claiming Blue Ivy’s arrival kept them from spending time with their own newborns in intensive care.

Neil Nash-Coulon of Bedford-Stuyvesant said hospital security kept putting the hallway on lockdown to accommodate Beyonce’s visitors.

1010 WINS’ John Montone reports: All Babies Are Not Created Equal

“People don’t need to be treated like this when dealing with sick children,” Coulon said.

Coulon said Lenox Hill Hospital kept his family out of the waiting area.

“They should have been more strategic with where they put her,” Coulon said. “You can’t cordon off the [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit]. These are small newborns who need care, and you’re just going to take over the hospital like you own it?”

Furious new dad Edgar Ramirez told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez the superstars’ security wouldn’t let him into the intensive care unit to see his newborn daughter, Charlotte.

“I was arguing with the security guards to go see my baby. ‘Why not? We can’t, we can’t.’ I couldn’t see my baby until three hours later because of the security,” Ramirez said.

Lenox Hill Hospital Executive Director Frank Danza issued the following statement in response to what he calls inaccurate news media reports regarding the presence of the Carter family at the hospital:

“Lenox Hill Hospital and its staff were delighted to welcome the Carter family for the birth of their firstborn on Saturday evening, but we are troubled by the misinformation being circulated in some news media reports. The suggestion that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent an entire maternity floor is simply not true. The family is housed in an executive suite at the hospital and is being billed the standard rate for those accommodations.

Our executive suites are available for any patient, including the food service and amenities provided to the Carter family.

The family does have its own security detail on site. However, the hospital has been and continues to be in control of managing all security at the facility. We have made every effort to ensure minimal disruption to other families experiencing the births of their own children over the past three days. No security plan that we or the Carter’s security team put in place would have prevented or delayed families from gaining access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and to date, no families have complained to the hospital about being denied access to the NICU.

Lenox Hill Hospital takes patient privacy and safety very seriously. And while we congratulate the Carter family on the birth of their child, we value the loyalty of ALL of our patients and always strive to ensure a positive experience, knowing that the birth of a child is a wonderful moment producing memories that last a lifetime.”

Coulon said his family and other patients affected deserve an apology.

“We shouldn’t have to deal with drama because they’re superstars… It isn’t fair,” he said.

Patient advocates said if the allegations are true the hospital needs to make ammends.

“When their privacy interferes with the privacy of other rights of patients or rights of other families who are caring for those parents, that’s really when the line is crossed,” Dr. Paul Appelbaum told CBS 2′s Sanchez.

Sound off in our comments section below.

Parents Claim They Couldnt Get Access To Their Newborns Due To Birth Of Jay Z And Beyonces Baby

Bees

Once Beyonce took off her wig, make-up and Spanx, no one would have recognized her anyway!!! Shame on the hospital for the interruption of bonding between the little ones and their families………. No one is more special than a baby in NICU!!
buggaz

This cow of a woman and her equally idiotic husband need a good public caning.
David Moore

Shame on these parents
Nobody and I mean nobody would deprive me of my rights to see my baby over some celebrities percieved rights.
Vince

I am so sick of pampered, preening, self-centered and entitled celebrities. When my wife delivered at Lenox Hill, there were two celebs that gave birth at the same time, and they acted and were treated like everyone else. These two think they are the center of the world. Meanwhille, someone like Frank Sinatra had more talent in his pinky than Jay_Z has in his whole body.
Retired 1SG

Obviously this hospital no longer sees itself as a public hospital, but rather a private one. As such, it should NO LONGER receive public (city, state, or federal) funding. You people of New York should be up in arms about this travesty, but,then again, since it doesn’t include the opportunity for conservative bashing, you won’t say anything!! I love it. Two “supporters” of the 99%rs screwing them over. Go ahead and show them how you feel…buy more of thier cds!!
kimdi01

This this proves what the egotistical, selfiserving people with money, more concerned about themselves and their status will do to pamper themselves. The hospital is as much to blame as these people who feel they are the center of the universe when they have done nothing to deserve such treatment. It makes one wonder why the public would put up with these. They should be made to pay for the other patients discomfort during that time, and pay BIG.
the bandid

BEFORE THEY WERE SOMEBODY THEY WERE NOBODY,I GOES TO TELL YOU THAT IF YOU WERE BORN GARBAGE YOU WILL DIE BEEN GARBAGE.

Nico

“You can take the boy and girl out of the ghetto, but you can’t take the ghetto out of them”. These people are trash with money.

Nancy

I think it’s horrendous that Lenox Hill Hospiral deprived parents being with their babies. The administration needs a formal reprimand and the whole thing should be investigated. What because they are celebrities and have money they can do what they want, I really don’t think so. Shame on you Lenox Hill Hospital & Beyonce.
Denny

I imagine it has more to do with security issue than anything else. Back off folks!

private

agree about the security but, they could have delivered at home and had all the privacy (sans helicopters over their home, etc.) they needed — I believe $1.3million would have paid for that and then some…
elizabethrc

Would you be telling us to back off if it was you being denied access to your child?
This has less to do with special privileges for monied people than it does with people with no breeding, no social conscience and is just another example of ‘street people’ indulging in obnoxious behaviour.
Think about it

Then Beyonce should have delivered her children at another hospital that could have provided security without disrupting the care of the other patients–and this hosptial should have told them that they couldn’t provide the security they wanted up front.
Mary Urech Stallings

NICU is for seriously premature or ill babies. The parents should be allowed 24/7 access. You back off.
Meloday

re: I imagine it has more to do with security issue than anything else. Back off folks!

Yes, it does have to do with security, but when Beyonce’s make-up artist and entourage have easier access to the NICU than do the fathers and families of premature babies, it goes beyond a simple security issue!
Gloria Guerriera

Why am I told to slow down because I am posting to quickly. Did I say something the screeners did not agree with.

ThrowObummerOut

SUE ‘EM!

Mary Urech Stallings

What if one of those babies had died without the parents by her/his side. Yes, sue the hospital.

Hammer

Thank you, Mary Stallings. Finally, in this long thread, someone stated the obvious. This is neo-natal INTENSIVE CARE. These are babies that are completely at risk, some on deaths doorstep. This is not a wing you deny any parent access to. This has NOTHING to do with “bonding” with your baby as some have stated.

homero

I AM NO RICH…I AM VERY POOR.
BUT I HAVE PEACE IN MY MIND AN IN MY SOUL.
IAM NOT A RELIGIOUS PERSON.BUT I FEEL MYSELF IN A VERY GOOD STATE OF MIND.
I DOUBT MISS BEYONCE CAN FEEL THE SAME WAY AFTER WHAT SHE HAVE DONE.
MAY IT BE THAT MONEY AND FAME HAS BLINDFOLDED HER EYES AND DON’T LET HER BE A HUMAN BEING.

artemis133

Namaste, homero.

Sam

Thats what happens when you have your baby in a place where celebrities do. I have no idea why these celebrities don’t just have their babies at the hospital then move to a posh hotel with a nurse after a few hours. or better yet they should have a private delivery suite on a floor away from everyone else
Dennis Rutherford

I think it is absolutely hillarious that you morons ar complaining. You are the very people who give these clowns their celebrety status.

Sam

Don’t put that responsibility on me. I do not support these ‘people’ in any way, shape or form. You may be guilty of that, but don’t blame the rest of us!
Not Guilty

I’ve never bought any of their albums and don’t listen to their music. The only reason I even know who they are is because I have to stare at their ugly mugs on the cover of magazines while I wait in line at the supermarket.

Hammer

LOL…me too! Great comment.

carlb

well if he can buy a whole floor for over a maillion he could have set up a neo natal icu in his own home and paid the doctors and nurses to come to his house to deliver and watch the premie. it looks like money is the thing at lennox hospital. about 1.5 million would have covered the whole price tag on the home gig and also the clean up later and a bonus a tax break for donating all the equipment to the hospital for there use. rich people do not think they just do what they want and get away with it! maybe next time. lol
Susan

Had this celebrity couple really wanted a private birth for their child they have the means to have had a home birth attended by all the physicians and equipment they needed. The hospital administration should be ashamed.
exBronxite

Unfair? How about TOTALLY DISGRACEFUL! Has the once-great Lenox Hill Hospital become THAT desperate that they have to cater to former well-known Brooklyn drug dealers like Jay -Z to pay their bills? If I were to collapse in Manhattan I’d rather go to a city hospital now; at least I’d get the same treatment as the drug dealers there. And my doctor is a affiliated with Lenox Hill!
Lebek Johnson

Us and them. The new American aristocracy.
Wondering

I wonder what Jay-Z and Betonce are thinking abot the ruckus this has started.

fred

They have not given it a first thought, let alone a second.

Crashing Boulder

There is your ‘celebrity’ run amok for you. These hospital administrators should be fired for allowing this kind of abject nonsense to occur in their hospital. Celebrity stops at the door in a situation like this. Shame on all of them.
hOMERO

UMBELIEVABLE!..HOW CAN THESE CELEBRITIES BE BE SO EGOTISTIC AND UNHEARTY?
HOW CAN THE HOSPITAL GRANT PRIVATE SERVICE TO ONE PERSON AND FORGET ABOUT THE RIGHT OF OTHER JUST FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY?
SHAME ON YOU MISS BEYONCE.
YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE MORE A MOTHER THAN THE REST OF THE MOHERS WITH NEWBORN IN THE HOSPITAL?
SHAME ON THE HOSPITAL ADNINISTRATORS WHO ALLOWED SUCH A THING.
MONEY DONT MAKE YOU A PERSON..YOU,BEYONCE, MAKE A LOT OF MONEY BUT YOU HAVE LOST YOUR SOUL…YOU SHOLD GO TO BURN IN HELL.

Hammer

Homero, please give the caps key a rest. We recognize your passion, but that’s hard to look at.

PaPa Joe

Mr. Coulon is totally correct. My twin grandsons were in the NICU for ten days. Where do you think Grandma and Grandpa were each of those ten days? Lenox Hill Hosp. has a lot of explaining to do and, maybe a refund to Mr. Coulon – Ha Ha – The hospital will not make any comment though because of OBRA, the law addressing, among other things, patient privacy. So, Mr. Coulon, good fortune to you, mommy and the children. Happy New Year !
lenny

give me a break, this is from the same guy that showed support for the OWS’ers, then sold t-shirts for his profit, then pulls a elitist move like this. Take your support and shove it HYPOCRITE

Paul Revere

It never gets old watching you OWS people slowly learn your lesson one betrayal at a time by all your heroes, cheerleaders, and flawed “ideas”.

mary beason

Way to lump all OWS supporters in the same category. You just show how ignorant you are. I support the OWS movement but Jay Z, Byonce, not Russell Simmons for that matter, have ever been nor will ever be my heros. I doubt they are for most who support the OWS movement.

JERSEY MOM

VERY UNFAIR TO THE OTHER PATIENTS AT THE HOSPITAL.I TOOK A TOUR OF THAT HOSPITAL AND ITS A VERY BUSY FLOOR AND I DECIDED TO HAVE MY BABY AT GREENWICH HOSPITAL IN CT.INSTEAD.ITS A WASTE OF MONEY,AND SO MANY PEOPLE IN DIRE NEED AND THEY THINK THEY ARE ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE.THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS MONEY CANT BUY!!!!THE RUMORS THAT SWIRL AROUND YOUR PREGNANCY IS VERY SHALLOW IF ITS TRUE.DO SOMETHING REWARDING WITH YOUR MONEY INSTEAD OF RENTING AN ENTIRE FLOOR AT THE HOSPITAL AND KEEPING OTHERS PARENTS AWAY FROM THEIR BABIES.IF I HAD LOST THAT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH MY BABY,I WOULD LAWYER UP!!

LMB

good for you – CT is a better state to be born in anyway….

JERSEY MOM

GREENWICH HOSPITAL IN CT WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE EVER,MY HIGH RISK DOCTOR HAD AN OFFICE IN NYC AND UPSTATE NY,AND GAVE US THE CHOICE OF LENNOX OR GREENWICH.AFTER TOURING LENNOX,IT WAS OVER CROWED,NOT VERY FRIENDLY WHEN WE WERE THERE,AND NOT VERY CLEAN CONNECTICUT SEEMED THE WAY TO GO!!!LENNOX SOLD THEIR SOUL FOR THE DOLLAR,ITS PURE GREED!!!RICH PEOPLE THAT ARE BLESSED WITH WEALTH COULD MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD BUT THEY GET MORE GREEDY.IF I WAS IN THAT HOSPITAL, NOTHING WOULD OR COULD HAVE STOPPED ME FROM SEEING MY CHILD,COPS WOULD OF BEEN CALLED NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.TO ALL INVOLVED GET GOOD LAWYERS WHO ARE CERTIFIED IN CIVIL LAW,HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS “THE POCKET BOOK”
GOOD LUCK!!!!

private

agree agree agree .– my baby was in the NICU when she was born and the first days/hours are bonding time — that is PRICELESS — JayZ/Beyonce — shame on you!

LSKKMa

.If they want the privacy let them have 2 rooms, one for mother and one for baby or have rooming in so the baby is with the mother. This nonsense of cordoning off the the nursery and hallways from other new parents and their visitors is insane. If the hospital allowed the whole floor to be purchased by JayZ (questionable report) it should not have been the Maternity floor unless the hospital was going to refuse all maternity cases in the time frame that B & J were due..

Mary Wright Pippert

If they wanted provacy they should have hired a staff and had the baby at home.

J Fruch

That’s a load of garbage. They shouldn’t be treated any different than any other patient. Someone needs to give them both a swift kick in the butt to bring them back to the real world.
Curtis S. Lawson

First off that claim sounds bogus. They did that because they didn’t want people to try and get photos of the kid to sell to tabloids and websites all over the world. Now the hospital is going to have to suffer for this nonsense.

Charles

Then have your baby in your house if you want that kind or privacy. Or better yet try now to draw attention to yourself – Most people in the world would not recognize you idiots or care who you are in the first place – if you just came in and acted like a normal patient, then you would be treated as such. I doubt any parents there cared 2 cents about snapping a stupid pict of their ugly kid they are their only to look at be with their new born.
Those areas of the hospital are locked down anyway and the only ones granted access are the parents and close family none of which cares about these loosers.

Denny

You are mean and should be ashamed. Why the hate?

Paul Revere

They earned it. If you want “privacy” hire your own doctor to deliver at home. You use a public facility, namely a hospital…and ESPECIALLY a neonatal intensive care unit, then you need to be considerate and respectful to others who also have need of that public facility and cant or choose not to pay the staff to lock YOU out. The hospital admin should have done the right thing and refused their money and told them they will get the same privacy that everyone gets or else they can go elsewhere. I dont pin this on two morons from the entertainment industry, I dont expect much better out of them. I do and should expect better out of hospital administration.

JERSEY MOM

I heard the they put tape over the camera lenes and ordered the staff to turn in their cell phone at the start of their shift.What they were hiding is the fact she didnt carry her own child and paid some one to carry her pregnancy.Yes it was her eggs and his sperm but she didnt want her figure ruined!!!!!!! SHALLOW.Money is the root of all evil,WHEN YOU DIE YOUR NOT TAKING IT WITH YOU!!!! YOUR BOTH CAUGHT UP IN EARTHLY MATERIAL THINGS.HELP PEOPLE WITH YOUR WEALTH.SAD WORLD