DREW PINKSKY: Robert F. Kennedy’s youngest son is facing charges tonight. He fought off two nurses who tried to stop him from taking his newborn baby out of the maternity ward. Douglas Kennedy says he wanted to take the child "for a walk," but he was stopped by a few nurses with other ideas. Watch this. Douglas Kennedy was visiting his wife in January in the maternity ward, apparently wanting to take his baby outside for some fresh air. He says nurses said okay, but when others disagreed, things got nasty. Nurses say they stopped him at the elevator and he went for the stairs.
ATTORNEY: One of them got there first, I believe it was Miss Lane, she put her hand on the handle of the door, and he wanted to get in. He removed her hand and twisted her arm, so severely she's had medical treatment for the condition of her arm.
PINKSKY: Kennedy’s lawyer says he was protecting his baby, and used a knee to stop nurses who were grabbing for the child.
ATTORNEY: The only aggressors were the nurses.
PINKSY: The nurses told police the baby’s head was shaking violently. Kennedy’s lawyer denies it, saying the baby slept through the whole thing. The child fortunately was not injured. An E.R. doctor and friend of the Kennedys who saw it says the nurses were the only aggressors. Was he defending his rights as a parent or refusing to follow a nurse’s order? This happened on Jan. 7, but Mr. Kennedy was just charged last Thursday with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors.
Here to discuss it, former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh, and Lisa Bloom, author of the book Think. Before we get into it, I want to read a statement from Douglas Kennedy and his wife. ‘It is sickening to think our simple desire to take our son outside for fresh air has been warped into child endangerment. The nurse had no right to attempt to take our child out of his father's arms.’ The hospital put out this statement. ‘We completely support the actions of our nursing staff in this case as they were clearly acting out of concern for the safety of a newborn baby.’
LISA BLOOM: I just don't get this case. There's something weird going on here. When I had my children, okay, and we were in the hospital, I wasn’t under the impression that I just could take the baby and go out the door. You have to be discharged.
PINKSKY: Unless you are discharged, if you're a patient, can’t walk out the door.
BLOOM: In fact, I can remember when my baby girl was behind a thick glass window crying, I was saying give her to me, they said no, you can’t have her for another ten minutes. And I lost my mind. I didn’t kick, I didn’t scratch, I didn’t punch, I didn't yell.
PINKSKY: You didn’t run for the door. You didn't grab the baby like a football and run for the finish line.
BLOOM: There's a little bit of elitism going on here. I don't care if you're a Kennedy, I don't care if you're a millionaire, you're a celebrity--you have to follow the hospital rules.