Virginia hospital shutters NICU after allegations staff member abused babies by breaking their bones, police investigating

A hospital in Virginia has closed its neonatal unit following seven babies suffering from bone fractures caused by an unknown perpetrator. Police are investigating the case, according to the Daily Mail.

An unidentified staff member at Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond fractured a baby's leg while he was in the NICU, the parents told reporters. Last year there were four babies who had unexplained fracture injuries and in November and December of this year, three more babies suffered similar injuries.

Dominique and Tori Hackey were blessed with twin boys in August 2023 and named them Noah and Micah. A hospital staff member told the parents that one of the Noah's left leg "wasn't moving."

“A nurse was standing over Noah swaddling him, looked back and said, ‘I noticed his left leg wasn’t moving, it was kind of discolored, I told the doctor on staff, got some x-rays, and we determined he had a fracture to his leg, so we are going to splint it for the next two weeks,’ and then she was like, ‘Do you want to hold him?’”

"In my mind I’m like, I don’t want them to turn it around on us and say we broke his leg or anything like that, so I was like ‘No, we don’t want to hold him, we are just going to process this,’" Dominique commented. The x-rays discovered that Noah had a fractured tibia.

At the time, hospital workers suggested that it could have been accidental, the couple claimed, "That’s what they told us, that it could have been done because an injection was given and maybe they did it too hard and it caused the fracture."

However, the couple wanted an investigation done and called child services. After the hospital was investigated over the incident, it was found that Noah had suffered from level 1 physical abuse while in the hospital’s care, the outlet reported.

A letter from child services stated, "Following a through CPS investigation this agency has determined the disposition of this report to be founded level 1 for physical abuse of Noah by an employee by the Henrico Doctor’s Hospital NICU." The letter was sent to the couple this year in September. 

Police did not tell the Hackeys that there had been more babies suffering similar injuries until October this year and because of the injuries discovered in the babies this year, the unit is shutting down at the hospital. The hospital said in a statement that it is reviewing video footage but has not found the culprit.