HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — The Henrico County Department of Social Services determined an employee in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Henrico Doctors' Hospital physically abused a premature infant at the hospital in September 2023, according to a letter to sent to the baby's mother from the agency.
Noah Hackey’s parents showed CBS 6 the letter which was authored by Child Protective Services Supervisor Sarah Wilson on Sept. 26, 2024.
Noah’s parents, Tori and Dominique Hackey reached out to CBS 6 after seeing our report Thursday about Henrico Doctors’ Hospital pausing admission to their NICU because three babies were found in late November and December with “unexplained fractures,” and the incidents were similar to incidents in the summer of 2023 involving four babies.
WATCH: Henrico Doctors' Hospital pauses NICU admissions after babies had 'unexplainable fractures'
The couple had twin boys, Noah and Micah, at the hospital on Aug. 25, 2023, when they were 28 weeks and 6 days old.
Both boys stayed together in a room in the NICU and Noah, in particular, thrived right away.
"Noah was a healthy baby boy. He was on CPAP for maybe two days and then taken off,” Dominique Hackey said.
But, on Sept. 5, the couple received some startling news.
“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?” Dominique said.
The couple said no.
“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 said.
Dominique showed CBS 6 a picture of Noah’s x-ray which showed the fracture.
"They said it was the tibia that was fractured. That little piece there is what the fracture was.”
Dominique then told his mother, a nurse, about the fracture.
“She said, 'That is not right. I’ve worked in multiple NICUs, and there has never ever been a fracture,'” Dominique said.
He said she immediately contacted Child Protective Services to report the injury.
Meanwhile, Dominique said the hospital leadership seemed to suggest the injury was accidental.
“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.”
By January, Henrico Police and a prosecutor had reached out to the couple as part of their investigation.
And, in September, they received the letter from Henrico’s Department of Social Services.
In the letter it states "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.”
Level one is the most serious level of child abuse or neglect in Virginia.
“It was intentional, it was child abuse, it was the most severe level that it can be. That definitely opened our eyes to it because nobody had said that before. Nobody said this was child abuse, this was intentional,” Dominique said. “You do anything to protect them, you vow that. As a father of my son I vow to protect them and do everything, and I am helpless.”
Dominique said it was not until October of this year that police told them other NICU babies experienced similar injuries around the same time.
But, they said they could not figure out who hurt the babies.
“It’s my baby boy. I feel like I’ve done nothing to protect him and that hurts. It pisses me off,” Dominique said.
Still, Dominique and his wife were so busy caring for the twins that they accepted those findings, and the hospital’s word, that they had instituted preventative measures like cameras in the NICU and more training, to ensure this never happened again.
That is, until Thursday, when a friend sent them our story about the hospital’s NICU pausing admissions after three more babies were found with unexplained injuries in November and December of this year.
“We couldn’t believe it, instant anger, instant tears, because it’s not supposed to happen again, it’s not supposed to happen in the first place,” Dominique said.
Now, he said he blames himself or not reaching out to the news to share his story long ago.
“That’s one of my biggest regrets, not reaching out sooner and saying something because it could have prevented somebody else’s child from getting hurt.”
Thankfully, Noah made a full recovery and the twins are thriving at home in Chesterfield.
But, the couple now wants justice for Noah, and for the other babies who were injured while in the NICU at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital.
“Somebody needs to be held accountable for my son, for everybody’s kid, somebody needs to be held accountable, it’s too many in such a short period of time,” Dominique said.
The Hackeys are asking anyone with questions about their story, or who may have experienced something similar at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, to reach out to them.
If you reach out to Melissa Hipolit, she can put you in touch with them.
We asked HCA, which owns the hospital, some questions about what actions they took in 2023 to investigate and prevent future harm to NICU babies, but a spokesperson did not answer those questions and said they did not have anything to add to their official statement, which can be found on the HCA Virginia website.
In that statement, they said healthcare professionals are reviewing video footage and that footage was also provided to the proper authorities.
So far, they have not found any misconduct or accidental actions that could have caused the fractures.
In the meantime, the hospital said it is taking these steps to enhance safety in the NICU:
- Requiring all NICU caregivers to participate in supplemental unit-wide, in-person safety training programs.
- Adopting the practice of conducting additional head-to-toe examinations of each NICU baby, led by neonatologists.
- Instituting mandatory training for all healthcare providers who interact with minors, educating the providers on the identification and reporting of suspected neglect or abuse.
- Installing new security systems to ensure proper care and parents’ peace of mind:
- A camera system that records all activity in our NICU rooms 24/7 and is available for viewing in real time or at a later date
- Live-streaming technology allowing parents to view their babies
- An observer system where each provider in the NICU is accompanied by another clinician when they are present in a baby’s room to help ensure all protocols are followed
The spokesperson added that they are working closely with the families of the babies currently in the NICU, and the majority of those families have decided to remain in their care.
Henrico Police are partnering with several state agencies, including the Virginia State Police and the Attorney General’s Office, to investigate the babies injuries.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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