Security Blanket For Newborns -- Hospital Nurseries Use Training, Technology To Thwart Abductions

Posing as a visiting physician summoned by a patient, the woman in the white lab coat acted quite professionally. She asked good questions, seemed to know her way around the nursery and quickly gained the mother's confidence.

Then she was gone - kidnapping a 3-day-old boy from the Pierce County hospital after volunteering to hold the baby so the mother could rest.

The baby was recovered in less than a day. Along with infant kidnappings across the country, this incident in 1997, and another in 1992, jolted the administrations of area hospitals.

Security for newborns has reached an all-time high in Puget Sound hospital nurseries. From electronic bracelets, to extensive instructions for new mothers, to kidnapping drills, precautions are designed to wrap the infants in a blanket of safety.

"We have to think differently about security, and that's sort of hard because a birth is such a happy time, too," said Linda Glaeser, a regional officer for Franciscan Health Services, owner of St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, where the 3-day-old was abducted.

Nationwide, 104 babies have been taken from hospitals during the past 16 years, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That includes 57 from the mother's room, 15 from the nursery, 16 from the pediatrics department and 16 from elsewhere in the hospital.

The numbers are a fraction of the 4.2 million births a year at more than 3,500 birthing facilities. But few things could be worse than a single abduction when it happens to your child, or at your hospital.

"We felt so awful about our incident, we wanted to forget about it. But we've shared what we've learned from our experience with others," said Glaeser, who oversaw creation of the new security at St. Clare.

The highest-tech protection includes electronic bracelets or anklets worn by newborns. At the University of Washington Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center and Overlake Hospital Medical Center, the devices set off alarms and lights when a baby has been taken from a protected area.

"Some of the hallway doors will lock in front of you. It's like a Star Trek containment field," said Marianne Klaas, accreditation and safety manager at Swedish.

Most hospitals have surveillance cameras running at all times and keep the newborn units locked or guarded 24 hours a day. At some units, you must be buzzed in or have an electronic key card issued only to staff members. Family members must call ahead.

"We even have two nurses in the room at all times during the recovery period, until the mom is transported to the postpartum room, which is in the locked area," said Glaeser.

The August 1997 abduction at St. Clare was not unlike other kidnappings that have been reported across the nation.

Claiming she was a Fort Lewis physician requested by the mother, the 30-year-old woman entered the hospital through the emergency room late at night. The next afternoon, she was caught shoplifting baby clothes at a nearby store, fled the scene and abandoned the baby in a box near a trash bin. Under questioning, she confessed to the kidnapping and led police to the infant.

Hospitals now place considerable emphasis on instructing patients.

"We focus on the education of parents, particularly the mother, because that's really the first line of defense," said Barbara Ringhouse, director of Northwest Hospital's childbirth center.

The cardinal rule, officials say, is that the mother not release her infant to anyone, including staff members, whom she doesn't know.

To help with that, nurses and other staff members wear photo-identification tags, some with special colors or codes. Nurses introduce other staff members at shift change. And they typically tell mothers in advance if the baby needs to leave the room for a medical procedure.

"They'll be warned if the baby will need an X-ray, and then only the nurse can take the baby," said Fran Wall, family services clinic director at Providence General Medical Center in Everett.

Nine years ago, a 2-day-old baby was kidnapped from Providence by a woman posing as a representative of a Snohomish County welcoming committee for new mothers. She had visited the baby's mother twice before and the staff thought she was a friend or family member.

When the mother went to the bathroom, the 34-year-old woman took the baby. The infant was recovered after the woman's neighbor, who had seen a news report of the kidnapping, heard the baby crying and asked her about it. When the woman said the baby had been born that day, the neighbor became suspicious and reported it to police. The baby was not injured.

After the incident, Providence immediately increased security, including instituting a special coding system for staff identification badges.

At UW Medical Center, bassinets are kept between the mother's bed and the window. Many hospitals insist babies be transported only in bassinets.

"We try to discourage picking up the baby and strolling around to show Grandma and Uncle Ben," said Klaas, of Swedish.

Kidnapping drills also are common.

Typically, hospital security officials fake a kidnapping each quarter, with a staff member or volunteer trying to escape the hospital with a doll. Before the "kidnapper" gets out of the unit, staff members are told a baby is missing.

Alarms sound. "Code pink" is announced over the hospital intercom. Sometimes police are called. Every hospital staff member looks for anyone carrying a baby.

In a drill at Providence in Everett four years ago, the "kidnapper" even had an accomplice. The kidnapper - a staff member - passed the baby doll off to the accomplice, who was waiting in the stairwell. The accomplice was actually the hospital chaplain.

"He got caught" by another staff member, said Wall. "He was very happy."

Warren King's phone message number is 206-464-2247. His e-mail address is: wking@seattletimes.com