Northwell Health's Staten Island University Hospital internal policy ("Managing Maternal Refusal") gives doctors the authority to take control of pregnant patients and force them to have medical procedures without their consent. This policy violates medical ethics and New York's Patient Bill of Rights.
Northwell Health has refused to address if this policy is being implemented in any of their other 23 hospitals (including Lenox Hill Hospital) or any of their 700 outpatient facilities.
That is why Pregnancy Justice activists rallied together outside of Northwell Health's Lenox Hill Hospital to demand that to Northwell Health's Board and CEO Michael J. Dowling eliminate policies that permit forced or coerced medical interventions (obstetric violence) on pregnant patients in their facilities.
Pregnancy Justice will continue our organizing and education actions until Northwell responds and ensures that no pregnant patient is again denied her constitutional and statutory rights as Rinat Dray was at Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH). Eight years after being forced to have cesarean surgery which injured her bladder, Rinat Dray has sued but has not received justice. The hospital continues to defend its actions and thus far Northwell has failed to respond to the petition or announce what, if any, steps they have taken to safeguard the civil and human rights of their pregnant patients.
Sign and share our petition (bit.ly/napwChange) demanding Northwell doctors honor the decisions of pregnant patients and uphold pregnant patients' rights. Be sure to stay tuned for information about our upcoming actions!