Man's Wife Met An Early Demise, Then He Noticed Hospital Staff Acting 'Off'

man's wife met an early demise then he noticed hospital staff acting off [Music] when peter demarco lost his wife laura levin to an asthma attack his grief was overwhelming days spent in the hospital with laura hooked up to machines only to experience an earth-shattering loss was too much to bear peter thanked the hospital for their tenderness and care during the roughest time of his family's lives but within a few months a larger picture of laura's final moments came to light and it showed the hospital had a much bigger role in what should have been a preventable tragedy laura was alone in the early morning hours on the day of her fatal incident she and peter were taking time away to work on their marriage going to counseling and living separately in an apartment by herself laura awoke sometime near 4am and realized she was having an asthma attack as an asthmatic laura always carried an inhaler she was cautious in treating her symptoms and knew how to manage them while maintaining an active lifestyle as a passionate weight lifter and hiker she worked out six days a week she had a handle on living life with asthma so when she woke up experiencing an asthma attack she knew what to do thankfully laura's apartment was conveniently located right near somerville hospital so she decided to walk there she had to know the severity of her attack but she probably thought she'd get her usual nebulizer treatment and a dose of the medication prednisone and feel good as new she believed she had enough time to reach help on foot what could go wrong laura did everything right in her search for medical assistance she climbed the hill up to the hospital on foot and at some point she dialed 9-1-1 somewhere during her attempt to reach help her asthma attack crossed over from a minor issue to a life-threatening problem despite her proximity the help she needed never arrived laura beth levis died at age 34 a few days after her fateful walk to the hospital her husband peter was heartbroken that something so treatable became fatal in laura's case in his grief he didn't question the events that led up to her hospitalization in fact he left the experience feeling grateful for the hospital staff demarco was so touched by the way the somerville hospital staff had treated him his wife and their family in her final days that he wrote a letter thanking them that was published in the new york times he used his reach as a journalist to sing their praises but he soon found out everything he knew was a lie five weeks after laura's death the circumstances still didn't sit right with her uncle robert levis he called the somerville police who don't normally make reports regarding medical calls but they felt compelled to help they interviewed the first responders and gathered evidence stringing together a report when the family received the report the tragic truth was impossible to deny initially the hospital staff told peter that laura was found some distance away from the hospital which was the reason she wasn't found in time to be saved looking over the police report it was apparent the staff had lied laura had indeed made it to the hospital in fact she made it all the way to an entrance door but it was locked and the security desk on the other side was empty the grim revelations didn't end there peter wrote dozens of letters and made many phone calls in order to obtain the hospital surveillance footage ultimately he got his hands on the tape that showed laura had reached the locked ambulance entrance to the er saw no one and could only make it to the bench about 30 feet from the public er entrance sitting there she called 9-1-1 laura managed to tell the 9-1-1 dispatcher where she was and the seriousness of her situation through labored breaths twice finally they were able to contact a nurse at the er to go check outside from surveillance footage the nurse stayed by the door and merely shifted her head around in the early morning hours she failed to notice laura collapsed on the bench the nurse never alerted the security guards about the matter she didn't walk outside to see if anyone needed help outside the glow of the entrance light instead the nurse told the 9-1-1 dispatcher she saw nothing by then laura couldn't respond to the dispatcher so they tracked the location of her cell phone and made another critical error in an unforeseen technical error laura's cell phone pinged a tower about 200 feet away from the hospital when she was actually much closer the somerville fire department took critical minutes to search the wrong area though they eventually spotted laura near the er entrance and immediately began cpr sadly they were too late a police officer on the scene noted in his report the lack of response when he tried to alert someone inside the er i started to bang on the glass with my ring and from in the back i heard someone yell relax in a very annoyed tone and then as she turned the corner and saw me she said take it easy in that same annoyed tone the only conclusion peter and his family could draw was that several people had failed laura and it resulted in her death he went to lovin and meyer a prominent medical malpractice firm knowing that a successful settlement couldn't bring his wife back but it could hold the hospital responsible and prevent further tragedies he wanted to fight for laura it looked like the government was on peter demarco's side at first the massachusetts department of public health found violations and so did the u.s department of health and human services charging somerville hospital with ninety thousand dollars in fines but their hands were tied from doing much more massachusetts law protected hospital staff and prevented fines over a hundred thousand dollars in wrongful death suits peter felt deflated feeling hopeless peter knew something still had to be done no one else should have to suffer like laura did when one minute delays an emergency response are responsible for thousands of deaths a year with a lawsuit off the table he wondered what could he do to even save just one life how do you change the system peter turned to legislation laura's law would ensure closer inspection and monitoring of hospital entrances in addition to proper signage and lighting if passed it would be the first of its kind by the closing days of the legislative session in early january 2021 it was looking like they had a 50-50 chance of passing laura's law the state representatives and bill sponsors let peter know that if they wanted to win they were going to need to make a lot of noise family and friends turned to everyone they could to flood the state house with phone calls and emails asking their representatives to vote in support their action worked on january 5th laura's law passed peter and his in-laws attended the social distance ceremony where massachusetts governor baker signed laura's law it felt like a victory that in laura's absence they were able to fight to ensure others wouldn't suffer the same tragic fate they learned a harrowing lesson about the medical system and how your trust shouldn't always lie in the professionals even when peter spilled his thanks to the nurses and doctors in the new york times none of the staff of the hospital confided in him the truth of laura's preventable death the most qualified and caring medical professionals can still be capable of prioritizing their own interests even to a criminal degree pauline chambliss and her husband struggled with infertility after over a decade of failing to conceive along with several taxing miscarriages they could no longer bear the disappointment so in 1984 the couple walked into dr kim mcmorry's office in nacogdoches texas he was the fertility doctor in our area you couldn't have asked for a more caring and polite likable person and doctor pauline said she felt comfortable confident and safe working with dr mcmorris it was safe to say pauline and her womb were in the best hands it seemed that way anyway just like any alternative method for having a child whether it be adoption ivf or utilizing a sperm donor there was a ton of paperwork pauline and her husband filled out a questionnaire regarding their preferred donor features including hair color height and ethnicity before they knew it the couple was paired with hand-selected anonymous sperm donors that match their desired characteristics pauline endured two and a half years of artificial insemination appointments praying and hoping a pregnancy would stick while this led to a handful of pregnancies they all ended in miscarriages after about six weeks it was devastating pauline stated over the course of the long draining process she got closer and closer to dr mcmorris and he was always there for emotional support over that period of time you build up trust for someone who appears to be doing his very best to try to help you conceive i put my faith in him he explained pauline and in 1986 a miracle happened a pregnancy finally stuck and dr mcmorris was there for pauline throughout all nerve-wracking nine months as soon as i got to the hospital in labor he came and stayed by my side through delivery until an hour after jessica was born pauline detailed jessica was born beautiful and healthy and pauline and her husband never wanted to keep any secrets from her therefore jessica grew up knowing that she was conceived with help from a donor so as she got older the curious kid wondered who her biological daddio was mom was completely honest and it made me feel special i knew how hard she tried to have me jessica told the new york post the 80s 90s and early 2000s passed the family by and in 2020 33 year old jessica stavena was determined to get some answers she also shared everything she knew about my biological father that he was a tall medical student with red hair who loved music i'd often wonder if one day i'd meet him the medical spa manager continued she soon realized there was more to the mystery than just her father's identity did jessica have any half-siblings did they know who their father was was there a genetic explanation for her own rare medical issues her burning questions only got more intense and she finally did something about it in january 2020 she took a dna test thrilled to finally have some concrete answers when the results came back on february 23rd jessica was so ecstatic that she called 67 year old mama pauline my heart was pounding so hard i could hear it she relayed my husband had mom on speakerphone as i clicked to see my relatives jessica said though her results weren't as crystal clear as lizzo's turns out jessica has three half-siblings two sisters and a brother jessica was practically bursting at the seams with excitement as she immediately hopped on facebook and sent her half siblings friend requests it wasn't long before she received a message from her long-lost half-sister eve wiley hi do you know the details of your birth story was dr mcmorris your mom's doctor eve's message read while jessica was a bit puzzled she never could have expected what eve wrote next i hate to be the bearer of bad news but he is also our biological father as you can imagine jessica was shell-shocked what was eve talking about how could that be after reading the message aloud to pauline who was still on speakerphone she was silent pauline managed to shout what i just thought no that's absolutely impossible i would never have agreed for my doctor to donate sperm pauline explained shockingly it was possible as they were victims of fertility fraud indiana university law professor jody laney mediera defines fertility fraud as illicit inseminations an international act that occurs when a doctor knowingly uses his own sperm to inseminate a female patient without her consent eve learned about it in 2018 she and her own mother had a very similar story to pauline and jessica's and her dna test revealed some shocking information about her donor when she realized her donor was actually dr mcmorris she confronted him he wound up sending her a bizarre letter in response he explained that he had purposely mixed his sperm with other donors in order to improve her mother's chances of getting pregnant eve's mother denies claims that dr mcmorris got her permission to do so eve testified to a senate panel in april 2019 and that september it officially became a sexual assault for a health care professional to use human sperm eggs or embryos from an unofficial donor in texas without eaves nudging for the passage of senate bill 1259 it may have never happened jodi lainey mediera explained that when cases such as these emerge decades later way after statutes of limitations have ended and documents have been destroyed pressing charges isn't an easy task the professor even filed a complaint against dr mcmorris with the texas medical board but sadly nothing came of it to give birth to your baby in front of your husband while the doctor delivering her is the biological father it blows my mind that he thought that was okay pauline stated it breaks my heart that she wanted to find her biological father for so long now it's just a hardship to her she didn't consent to this seeing his picture i think how could he who made him god i just can't get past the anger and hurt from my mom jessica said in frustration the mother and daughter felt anger and sorrow for each other clearly both empathetic individuals after doing more digging jessica had found that she has a total of seven half siblings and she only expects that number to grow as more people take dna tests though jessica's dna test led to a sinister discovery she doesn't regret it one bit as for pauline she's just eternally grateful to have her sweet jessica and stated she wouldn't change that for anything but while this family came to terms with this violation another was just discovering the appalling secrets hidden by their parents little jj mangina lived a seemingly normal childhood life in cleveland ohio alongside his single father his upbringing was fulfilling and fruitful with many fond memories of his early days however he would soon find himself questioning all of this he was born in alabama to parents jonathan mangina and his girlfriend who at this point will remain nameless though they never married they were both dedicated to raising their little man for a while at least according to jj's father his mysterious girlfriend dipped on the family when jj was just five years old jonathan would raise his son solo for the rest of his childhood for a fresh start they moved to cleveland ohio for a while things were a dream jj was killer at school as he received straight a's and blessed cleveland high school with his athletic abilities people loved jj how could they not he was a model child when senior year rolled around jj got to applying to college ready to take the plunge into his bright future but after his school counselor reviewed his paperwork something seemed fuzzy regarding his identity seeing that jj's college application required his father's tax information a dark secret would unknowingly be revealed the covert father had a lot of explaining to do who was he really when a school counselor noticed an issue regarding jj's social security number said counselor became an internet super sleuth discovering something beyond upsetting the social security number belonged to a boy named julian hernandez as it turned out the name julian hernandez was cited on a missing person's report jj mangina's father jonathan mangina was really a man named bobby hernandez things were beginning to add up and it wasn't pretty when confronted jonathan aka bobby hernandez fessed up the story that painted jj's mother as a deadbeat runaway was a complete and utter lie it was actually bobby who was the runaway they say love makes you crazy but this took the cake see in the summer of 2002 jj's mother asked bobby to babysit their little one since bobby and jj's mother both lived in the same vestavia hills apartment complex this situation was convenient this was the day that changed everything little did she know that would be the last time she'd see her son bobby then carried out his plan to kidnap his own son he packed everything up emptied his bank account and booked it julian's mother was left with a measly note and no son on august 28 2002 she reported her son as missing though they were only a 10 hour drive away from julian's mother she had no clue where they went which was part of bobby's obvious scheming bobby created new pseudonyms for him and his son jonathan and jj mangina though authorities immediately began a massive manhunt for little julian a boy with brown hair big brown eyes a mild stutter and a left cheek dimple alas even with a multitude of posters and internet broadcasting the search was ill-fated julian's mother and her family were horrified distraught and understandably beyond enraged they just wanted their sweet julian back when the two arrived in cleveland ohio bobby picked up a factory job while bobby's plot was illegal he took good care of his jj but that didn't change the fact that julian never knew his own mother the search for julian went on for years his poor mother desperate for answers after several tips led to zilch success felt farther and farther away police suspected julian was taken by a non-custodial parent when 2015 rolled around however things looked up thanks to julian's school counselor the truth was finally revealed understandably julian was bewildered by the whole thing as his whole life he thought his mother abandoned him that was far from the truth bobby hernandez was taken into custody and was arrested on november 2nd 2015. it was only weeks until bobby was indicted on charges of kidnapping interference with custody forgery and tampering with records he did create a fake birth certificate for julian after all julian's mother's attorney explained that bobby had committed the crime as a cruel form of revenge against julian's mother for ending their relationship and you think you've got relationship problems and julian's maternal mother didn't hold back her rage as she suggested bobby's sentence be as long as our suffering has been yikes granny missed out on her precious grandson's life and she wouldn't forget it ralph defranco bobby hernandez's court-ordered attorney defended bobby's fatherly intentions making a case for his responsible actions during julian's upbringing bobby apparently admitted to defranco that he's ashamed of the whole situation considering julian had a lovely childhood with his father he actually begged the judge not to send bobby to jail he even called bobby the perfect father well he might have gone with different wording i'm not angry at my father in the slightest i remember that he used to ask me if i ever committed a terrible crime would you still love me i still do even after learning everything julian said bobby pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping two counts of interference of custody one count of forgery and ten counts of tampering with records inevitably bobby hernandez was sentenced to four years of prison while julian aimed to reconnect with his mother he just didn't want his life to go back to normal julian didn't ask for this bomb to erupt his life and he amazingly loved his father just the same despite the damage done it was purely unconditional thankfully this story had a happy ending well sort of julian was alive and well and was finally reunited with his loving birth mother while many missing children stay missing there are a slew of missing persons cases that have miracle endings in nigeria amina ali nikeka was kidnapped by members of the terrorist group boko haram in 2014 two years later she was spotted by a group of vigilantes who rescued her and her four-month-old son two-year-old elijah wong and seven-year-old donnie simmons were found one month after they were kidnapped their mother antoinette wong and her boyfriend were bank robbers they'd abducted the children one even at gunpoint and took them on the run it wasn't until cops noticed their car swerving on the highway that they were arrested zhao young 14 fled her home in rural china after a fight with her parents 10 years passed and they all thought she was dead imagine their surprise when they found out she had been living in internet cafes playing video games and surviving on handouts from patrons sometimes working as a cashier the whole time in 1991 when she was just 11 j.c duggard was kidnapped by philip and nancy garrido while she was walking to her school bus in lake tahoe california jaycee was forced to live in a shack where she gave birth to two of phillips children thankfully police discovered her in 2009 and returned her to her family while philip and nancy were both sent to prison steven steiner of murst california was abducted by a man named kenneth parnell in december 1972 when he was just seven years old kenneth held stephen captive sexually assaulting him and torturing him for eight years he even convinced stephen that his family gave him away stephen finally broke out in 1980 after kenneth kidnapped another boy and the two vowed to escape together a man named steve carter had been scrolling through a website dedicated to missing children cases in when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks there on the site was a photograph that looked exactly like him as a youth the boy was named mark's panama barnes but steve realized the shocking truth right away it was him using this information he was able to confirm that his own mother had kidnapped him as a baby and put him in an orphanage 30 years earlier in 2002 elizabeth smart was captured by an unhinged mormon fundamentalist and his wife who were intent on making her his second bride the 14 year old was tied to a tree in her kidnapper's backyard just 18 miles from her home for nine whole months thankfully she was identified while at an event with her captors and she was freed richard wayne landers was abducted by his paternal grandparents and taken to live with them in missouri when he was just five years old authorities discovered him alive and well when he was in his twenties strangely he defended his grandparents saying i was where i needed to be sean hornbeck of missouri was abducted in 2002 when he was just 11. his kidnapper michael devlin changed his name beat him and brainwashed him but his family never stopped looking for him he was found four years later and his kidnapper received three back-to-back life sentences danielle cramer was 15 when she went missing in june 2006. police located her when they arrived at the west hartford connecticut home of adam galt one year later to arrest him for murder and they discovered danielle hidden in a locked cupboard instead michelle knight amanda berry and gina de jesus were found in the cleveland home of ariel castro in 2013 he had kept them prisoners for more than a decade they were finally freed when neighbors heard amanda's cries ariel meanwhile killed himself in prison charlie buffule 12 was reported missing from his detroit michigan home on june 14 2014 he was found 11 days later locked in the basement of his father's house he showed signs of abuse and starvation his father and his stepmother were prosecuted for the crime gregory jean junior disappeared suddenly when he was 13. he was missing for four years before he was found hidden behind a fake wall in his father's georgia home his father and stepmother were arrested for the crime and gregory was reunited with his mother luke shambrook an autistic 11 year old boy disappeared while camping with his family in victoria australia he was lost in the wilderness for more than four days before authorities found him his courageous act of survival was an inspiration natasha ryan was 14 when she was abducted in australia in 1998 a man who confessed to killing her was already on trial for her murder when it was revealed that she had just been hiding away with her boyfriend for five years because she was angry at her mother for forbidding her from seeing him she ended up marrying him 10 years later carlina white was just 19 days old when she was kidnapped from the harlem hospital where she was born in 1987. she was raised by her kidnapper for 23 years until she did some research on her family history and discovered the truth she was reunited with her biological mother while the woman who abducted her was sentenced to 12 years in jail connie mcallister of wisconsin was 16 when she vanished from her family home in 2004. connie was drugged by her then boyfriend and taken to mexico she admitted who she was to a visiting missionary and was allowed to return home in 2013. at the age of 15 tanya koch developed what she thought was a romantic relationship with a security guard named thomas hose he went on to abduct her and change her identity she lived hidden away and with only a bucket for a toilet in the same house as his parents and son for four years after that he finally introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend though she wasn't allowed to leave the house much it took her another six years before she was able to escape thomas meanwhile was sent to prison robert hutton was reported missing in 1972. he was 21 years old and traveling across the country at the time when serial killer john wayne gacy was active after he went missing authorities assumed he'd become a victim of gacy's the truth was that hutton had simply fallen out of touch with his family and has trouble reaching them