A Hospital's Secret Coronavirus Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns

Dec 11, 20200

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The Lovelace Medical Center in downtown Albuquerque, N.M. The Lovelace Women's Hospital is located elsewhere in the city. (Photo credit: Steve Burke)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A prominent women's hospital here has separated some Native American women from their newly born babies, the result of a practice designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 that clinicians and health care ethicists described as racial profiling.

This story was originally published by ProPublica. This article was produced in partnership with New Mexico In Depth, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.

Lovelace Women's Hospital in Albuquerque implemented a secretive policy in recent months to conduct special coronavirus screenings for pregnant women, based on whether they appeared to be Native American, even if they had no symptoms or were otherwise at low risk for the disease, according to clinicians.

https://nativenewsonline.net/health/a-hospital-s-secret-coronavirus-policy-separated-native-american-mothers-from-their-newborns