Mom in Labor at Hospital Claims No One Checked on Her for 5 Hours — and Her Baby Was Later Delivered with Skull Fractures and Brain Bleeds

need to know

• Jessica Hainley tells People magazine her C-section was delayed twice, resulting in her son being born with severe birth injuries

• Hainley says hospital staff miscommunicated and provided inadequate care during delivery

• Hospital denies wrongdoing

A new mother in Georgia claims a delayed C-section resulted in her newborn suffering serious injuries.

Jessica Hainley was scheduled to have a C-section on October 10, 2025, at Memorial Health University Medical Center. However, her water broke on September 25.

After going to the hospital, the 33-year-old told People that her water “very obviously broke,” but claims that when she needed a cervical check, she was told there were no gloves in the exam room and that the shift would be changed soon.

Hainley told People magazine that because she didn’t get a cervical check, she labored for five hours without anyone assessing the progress of her labor, even though she told hospital staff her contractions were five minutes apart.

During this time, she claims her caesarean section was postponed twice due to “more urgent circumstances” and she still wasn’t checked or re-evaluated.

“We’re constantly told how busy they are,” she said.

Hainley, who described her husband as her “supportive person,” allegedly was not allowed to come to the pre-surgery area with her until she was taken back to the operating room after she was cut open.

All this happened after Hainley allegedly said he frequently went back and forth to the nurse’s station while she was in the exam room to check that her monitor was accurately capturing her contractions and vital signs.

When he was finally brought into the operating room, Heinley said, he walked into her face “with the surgery in full swing and he was screaming and crying in agony” – something Heinley said he described as being “imprinted on the surgery.” [his] brain. “

The new mom claims to People magazine that there was no communication during the birth of her son because doctors didn’t check her pain levels or discomfort levels.

Hainley claimed that after the child was born, her ob-gyn never explained what happened, and it wasn’t until her son was in the neonatal intensive care unit that she was asked if there were any complications to explain her son’s injuries. He was ultimately born with a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage “due to birth trauma,” according to medical records reviewed by People.

Medical records also indicate Hainley’s son required resuscitation measures including oxygen, continuous positive pressure ventilation and suctioning.

Despite this, Hainley’s medical records state that there were no complications during the procedure and that her “baby was delivered atraumatically” without any injuries. Records do note, however, that newborns have “low [muscle] tone and pallor,” doctors later determined he had multiple hemorrhages, or “brain hemorrhages,” as well as a fractured skull.

Memorial Health University Medical Center told PEOPLE in a statement, “Our top priority is to provide high-quality care in a safe, supportive environment. When patients feel like this is not their experience, we meet with them to hear their concerns. In this case, that’s what we did. We also continue to work with regulators to figure out ways to maintain and enhance our processes.”

“The opinions in the story you mentioned are not supported by medical facts,” the statement continued. “Unfortunately, complications can occur with all surgeries, even when appropriate care is provided. When complications do occur, they are not always immediate. Medical records are a chronological record of how care occurs and are updated as new information becomes available.”

“As a regional center for high-risk obstetrics and level IV neonatal intensive care units, our team regularly cares for some of the smallest and sickest newborns. We are committed to providing safe, compassionate care to every patient we serve,” the statement said.

Hainley told PEOPLE that documents reviewed by PEOPLE show her son spent an additional eight days in the neonatal intensive care unit, where he received blood transfusions, external oxygen and a feeding tube.

Hainley claims that while his skull fracture has healed and the hematoma has resolved, he remains under the supervision of a neurologist and requires additional monitoring based on his birth-related injuries, which puts him at increased risk for developmental problems.

Hospital records reviewed by PEOPLE also show that Hainley’s “postpartum course was complicated by symptomatic anemia,” resulting in her receiving a blood transfusion.

She told People magazine that she took some time to process her experience and adjust to being a new parent before filing her complaint to the hospital around the end of October.

However, the hospital claimed that the information shared by the parents was “not supported by medical facts.”

After Hainley received a letter from the hospital on Nov. 12 saying it had received her complaint, she said she heard nothing from the health center for about two months.

Hainley told PEOPLE that when she was contacted again, she was told that while there was an internal morbidity and mortality meeting about the C-section itself, they were unable to share those findings, nor were there any other investigations conducted to share with her.

Hainley then decided to become more public about her concerns by posting on social media outlining her experience. A few days later, she was invited to meet with hospital leaders.

She recalled being emotional during the meeting and feeling like attendees were trying to end the meeting.

She was allegedly promised her family would receive an outline of how the hospital was working to improve safety and quality, but she told PEOPLE she only received a “brief note that contained nothing but meaningless platitudes.”

On February 10, 2026, she contacted the hospital again to express her dissatisfaction with the hospital’s response. Since then, she has not received a reply from the hospital.

Hainley also contacted the office of the Joint Commission on Quality and Patient Safety, the hospital’s accrediting agency, to share her complaint.

The Joint Commission responded to Hainley’s message, stating that “improvement requirements were identified during site reviews” and that Memorial Health would have to “demonstrate evidence of compliance.”

When PEOPLE contacted the Office of the Joint Commission on Quality and Patient Safety, the office said: “The Joint Commission’s activities regarding the health care organizations it accredits and the programs it accredits, including whether complaints or voluntarily reported incidents are received, are required to remain confidential. All public information about accreditations and accreditations issued by The Joint Commission can be found on our website.”

Hainley told PEOPLE she wants families going through similar situations to know they are not alone, and she emphasized the importance of reporting quality and patient safety issues to the Joint Commission.

“While the damage done to us and the trauma caused is irreversible, we want to prevent others from suffering the same pain,” she told People.

Hainley said Memorial Health Center “has to do better and be held to a higher standard” and has started a petition on Change.org to do just that.

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“Birth should be a beautiful thing, but for myself and many other mothers in Georgia, our birth stories come with PTSD and complex emotions that the human vernacular cannot capture,” she said.

Read the original article on People