The healthcare and harassment 2-for-1 special at Mercy Hospital

I have this vague memory of sitting down and watching a Zig Ziglar motivational tape once and all I could think about was how it had to be one of the corniest things I’d ever seen. But I still have to admit that Zig Ziglar gave birth to a whole new way of motivating people into their chosen careers. Ole Zig once said, “When you do more than you’re paid for, eventually you’ll be paid for more than you do.” It’s a great quote and, I’m sure for the ambitious, a great way to live their lives (I just ask that they leave the rest of us alone). But what happens when an employee clocks in with just enough ambition and ability to be dangerous, and yet they still try to do more than they are paid to do? I mean, like way more?

Recently Mandi Wilson, a single mother in Springfield, Mo. was detained by hospital security and separated from her 7-year-old son who was a patient at Mercy Hospital for an appointment with an audiologist. During her “delayed visit” of sorts, Ms. Wilson was threatened by an unnamed-yet-overzealous hospital security guard with everything from being labeled a trespasser on the hospital property, which could lead to her arrest, to her son “being fired as a patient” (his words, not mine) from the hospital, as well as turning this horrible incident in to Medicaid, implying she’d be expelled from that program as well. So what was the egregious offense to lead to such a strong response from hospital security?

Ms. Wilson snapped a picture of her own child with her cell phone on hospital property.

I wish I was making that up. According to Ms. Wilson, as soon as she snapped the photo she was met by the audiologist who was frantically waving her hands in her face telling her she wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the hospital. Despite Ms. Wilson’s apologizing and deleting the offending photograph, she says she was still escorted to a private room away from her child and was told she had to wait for security and the head of the department to respond. It all went downhill from there.

I have several issues with this, the least of which is the legality of a security guard (or anyone who is not a law enforcement officer) detaining another private citizen (Here’s a hint: unless you like playing a game called, “Catch the Kidnapper” with real police, don’t try it.). They had no right to detain her after she asked to leave. As a former law enforcement officer, I would highly recommend that their Director of Security get Mercy Hospital’s officers some additional training before someone sues them. This is an overreach by someone who once again thinks they know how to parent better than everyone else. But, welcome to the all-new “Big Government” mentality. It comes complimentary with the condescending Security Guards in shiny boots with an insatiable appetite for searching single mother’s cell phones.

But even worse, why did they feel it was necessary to detain her away from her child? The answer is simple: because they believe they can. Notice in the video how this security guard continually talked down to her and said the seven-year-old would be “fired” as a patient from the hospital. Well, maybe he forgot how free market capitalism works. So here’s his crash course; whoever does the paying (in this case, the family) is the one who gets to do the firing.

From the sound of his voice, the security guard was obviously becoming more and more agitated with not being allowed to search Ms. Wilson’s phone, but she had good reason not to let him—she stated she had photos of a private nature on there. Any man with decency would’ve left alone the subject of searching the phone after being told that, but this officer continued his hot pursuit. Which makes me wonder how he would’ve felt had his mother or sister been treated in such a disrespectful manner. At the end of the day, when ambitions couple with ignorance, it’s innocence that often pays the price.

The hospital made a big deal about the supposed violation of HIPAA regulations that occurred. However, I’ve got to ask, how is it possible for her to violate the HIPAA privacy of her own child, considering she is the one who must sign all consent forms on the child’s behalf and holds all rights on behalf of the child? It’s as if they charged her with violating her own HIPAA privacy!

But let’s play the “Devil’s Advocate” for just a moment. Let’s say that Mandi Wilson did inadvertently violate HIPAA privacy regulations when she snapped that photo of her son. Would that still warrant such an overreaction on behalf of the hospital? Wouldn’t it have been enough for a member of the hospital staff to politely inform her of the hospital policy against photography? Apparently the answer to this last question is ‘yes’, because a member of the hospital staff did inform Ms. Wilson, and she promptly apologized and deleted the photograph. So again, why did the hospital detain her away from her child and demand to search her personal property or else?

What if this had been you? What if you were in Mandi Wilson’s shoes that day with a sick child who needs ongoing medical treatment? How would you have felt if you were pulled into a separate room away from your child by hospital security and informed that what you did would have “federal ramifications,” and you were threatened with trespassing, removal from the program by which your sick child receives his medical care, and threatened with being reported to your health insurance provider with the implication to kick you off the rolls? Mercy Hospital may have mercy in name only, because their actions – at least in this instance – show otherwise.

All of this leads me to an even bigger question; one that deals with each one of us: Is this a hint of what kind of society seven-year-old Cruz can look forward to inheriting from his mother’s generation? A society where a hospital full of people will essentially bully a single mother in front of her young son, isolate them from one another, and interrogate her, demanding to search her property while answering her rebuffs with escalating threats that include “federal ramifications?” And in reality, the hospital is just a small symptom of a larger problem. It’s representative of so much more.

At what point are we finally going to say enough is enough, the parent has sole rights to decide what is right and what is wrong for their child, and—short of child neglect or abuse—demand that everyone else respect parental rights to raise their own children again? Because I could be wrong, but the last time I checked my child’s birth certificate said he belonged to two parents—not a whole village.

Mike Swims is a political columnist and podcast host. He is also the preacher of the Canal Heights church of Christ in Demopolis. His column on politics and current events appears weekly for The West Alabama Watchman.