ATLANTA — Moms are reacting to news that four labor and delivery nurses from Emory have now been let go after a video of them mocking maternity patients went viral on TikTok.
In the video, several nurses are seen talking about "Labor and Delivery Icks," where they take turns mocking patients and complaining about what annoys each of them most about different expecting mothers at the hospital.
"Saying you don't want any pain medicine, no epidural, but you are at an 8 out of 10 pain," one nurse said.
Emory’s response has drawn sharp reactions, with many women coming forward to share their own experiences at the Midtown location.
That includes Yewande Oke, who had her first child at that location in February 2020.
"I was a bit pissed off, I'm not gonna lie," she said, in response to the video. "It just brought back a lot of memories, because sometimes you don't think about your own experience and what you actually went through until someone triggers it. Mine was pretty traumatic in the sense of how everything happened.”
Oke said she was planning on a natural birth. Her 30-hour labor, she said, was a nightmare. Her aunt, who is also a nurse, went with her to the hospital. Oke said her aunt was the one that noticed things were starting to go south.
"My son's heart rate dropped drastically. [My aunt] had to actually go and call the nurse and let them know like, 'Hey, I need you guys.' Because nothing was really being taken serious," Oke recalled. "She was like, 'No, you guys have to come in here right now.' That's when they saw the his heart rate was dropping and rushed me in for an emergency C-section. Unplanned."
Meanwhile, Shaienna Quinn, who had her first child, there, too around that same time, said her experience wasn't bad.
"The staff, I absolutely loved them. They helped me to get into the hospital because when I was walking up to the doorway, I was in a lot of pain. So one of the nurses – she brought out a wheelchair for me. She helped me get upstairs," Quinn recalled.
The video had more than 100,000 views before it was deleted from TikTok, but both moms, who had their kids at Emory, said the damage was already done.
“I was like, 'Okay, is it another Emory or it's the one I'm thinking of?' And then when it said Atlanta Midtown, I was like, 'That's the one that gave birth. I don't remember ever having a negative experience,'" Quinn recalled.
Both moms said Emory Healthcare took the right action in letting them go, while others on social media said firing them, right before the holidays, is too harsh.
"Tough for them. But I'm pretty sure they'll find other jobs because there's always a shortage of nurses. People need to be careful how they use social media. So, I think them putting that information out, they open themselves up to it. This will be a learning lesson to learn for them," Oke said.
"I'm glad that they took the action that they did," Quinn added. "It lets people know that Emory does really care. Unfortunately, you do get bad employees, but think it's more so how the organization handles it that determines how they feel about their patients."
To get a sense of overall patient satisfaction, 11Alive looked at Emory Healthcare's own patient surveys for its hospitals from September 2021 through February 2022.
The Johns Creek location had the highest rating. The Decatur location had the lowest – at one point less than 60% of people said they would definitely recommend it.
Less than 70% of patients surveyed indicated they would recommend the Midtown hospital.
“Attitude-wise I felt like there wasn't much of a care. I didn't feel like the nurses really took time to talk to you to explain anything to you," Oke added.
“Getting an epidural was also scary. So, I had another great nurse that helped me through that process," Quinn said.
Emory Healthcare told 11Alive the TikTok video was disrespectful and unprofessional, and that no patient should feel like they are not being treated with care and respect.