NEW YORK – The 29-year-old nurse was fired from her job at Good Samaritan Hospital on Long Island after video emerged of her appearing to violently beat a baby in the intensive care unit and has now been criminally charged, prosecutors said.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced that Amanda Burke of Holbrook has been charged with a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, in the NICU incident filmed on 6 February.
The baby’s father, Fidel Sinclair, went to the hospital that day to see his 2-day-old son, Nikko, who was in the NICU for observation while doctors gave him antibiotics.
Through the window of the nursery, prosecutors say she saw Burke, who had been Nikko’s nurse, approach the boy, pick him up, turn him over and slam him face down in the crib. Sinclair also recorded the incident on her phone and showed it to the baby’s mother, Consuelo Saravia.
“I don’t know, it just broke me,” Sinclair said at the time. “I did not know what to do”.
Saravia confronted Burke about it, authorities say.
The parents also informed other nursing staff at Good Samaritan Hospital about the disturbing video. Burke was ordered out of the hospital and fired within hours, prosecutors said. He went to the Suffolk County Police Department on Wednesday and received a ticket to report to the office for arraignment in early May, Tierney said.
He called the allegations “really disturbing”.
Tierney’s office said it notified the state Department of Education’s Office of Professional Discipline of the investigation’s findings, although at present Burke’s license to practice in until a registered nurse has been suspended.
Burke’s attorney, Robert Gottlieb, says prosecutors got it wrong.
“The Suffolk District Attorney grossly misrepresented the facts and should never have taken this case to criminal court,” Gottlieb told the Post. “The baby in this case is in good health and has never been injured. Amanda is an exceptional nurse who has always cared for the babies in her care with love and compassion, and the evidence will prove it beyond doubt.”
Nikko returned home after the incident and was told he was fine.