ER Doctor Points to Nurses’ Actions as Cause of Kennedy Scuffle

 

An Emergency Department physician at Northern Westchester Hospital testified Thursday that it was two nurses who escalated tensions in the maternity ward last Jan. 7 that resulted in an altercation with Douglas Kennedy.

The defense team called Dr. Timothy Haydock, who had just started a 12-hour shift at 7 p.m., about 20 minutes before the incident. Haydock said Kennedy had inquired about taking his two-day-old son outside for fresh air and presumed he would be permitted to do so until two nurses intervened.

Haydock, a longtime family friend who had come up to third-floor maternity ward to pay Douglas and Molly Kennedy and their newborn a brief visit, said after Kennedy was blocked from using the elevator by one nurse he made his way to the stairwell door. He reached the door while still carrying his son in his arm, but the nurse caught up to him and prevented him from going downstairs.

Kennedy tried pushing the door open with his backside while struggling with the nurse to turn the doorknob, the doctor said. At that point another nurse “lunged forward and looked like she was trying to take the baby away from Douglas,” Haydock testified on the trial’s fourth day in Mount Kisco Village Court.

“As they went forward together, Douglas raised one of his legs, I’m not sure which one, put his foot to (her) abdomen and pushed her away,” Haydock said during direct examination from defense attorney Robert Gottlieb.

Until that moment, Kennedy had remained calm throughout the incident, Haydock said.

Haydock, whose full-time job is head of the White Plains Hospital emergency department, did not know either of the nurses involved. Until then, he had filled in at Northern Westchester Hospital, where he previously worked fulltime, about five times a month on weekends and evenings.

Earlier in the week, two nurses, Anna Lane and Cari Luciano, testified that Kennedy had confronted them physically as he disobeyed orders to stay on the floor. Lane said Kennedy twisted her arm in an attempt to open the stairwell door while Luciano said she was “kicked to the ground.”

Seconds after the door had opened, Haydock said Kennedy fell down while holding the baby, who was unhurt. He got up but was quickly met by two security guards who escorted Kennedy back to his wife’s room without further incident.

The incident at the door wasn’t the only time that a maternity nurse exhibited confrontational behavior toward Kennedy, Haydock said. Kennedy had retrieved a bassinet to transport the infant downstairs in compliance with the unit’s policy, he said. He waited for clearance at the nurse’s station, presuming that he and his newborn would be allowed to go downstairs for a brief time outside.

“Another individual walked up and very aggressively said there’s no way you can take him off the unit,” Haddock said.

The doctor acknowledged that he had no authority in the maternity ward. He said he was fine that Kennedy wanted to take the baby outside even though it was a January evening. It had been a “strikingly beautiful” day with unseasonably mild temperatures.

“The hospital was not meant to be a prison,” Haydock said.

Haydock said he has been a Kennedy family friend since 1967 when he was employed as a 17-year-old tennis instructor at the family retreat in Hyannisport. He has known Douglas Kennedy, now 45, since he was three months old.

At the start of Thursday’s court session, defense attorneys followed through on their promise from the day before to ask Judge John Donohue to dismiss the three charges–child endangerment, a misdemeanor, and two counts of second-degree harassment, a violation. Donohue did not rule on the request on Thursday.

Cross-examination of Haydock will resume Friday at 9:30 a.m. Donohue said that he expects testimony to conclude and closing arguments to be delivered.

“We’re going to finish tomorrow,” the judge said.