PUYALLUP, Wash. (WSVN) — A Washington mother said she and her sick baby were forgotten and locked inside an urgent care clinic after the facility closed.
Savannah Lewitt said her infant son Cason was suffering from a cough when she went to the MultiCare Urgent Care clinic near Seattle, Washington.
Lewitt said just like any other visit, she and the 4-month-old child were taken into an exam room so a nurse could take the infant’s vitals. “[The nurse] said he will be in five to 10 minutes with the doctor,” Lewitt said.
However, the mother said almost 40 minutes later, she and her son were still alone in the room. “That was when I was like, ‘That’s quite a while I’ve been waiting,’ so I went to check, and when I opened the door, I instantly, I knew and I just started crying,” Lewitt said.
She found the center empty and the lights shut off — the office had closed for the night. “They left me like my son and I meant nothing,” Lewitt said.
Lewitt opened a door and it set off an alarm, but eventually, a cleaning crew arrived and let them out. “But I was just angry and disappointed for my son,” Lewitt said. “He was the priority. Not me, him.”
Lewitt said Cason never got treatment.
“I had to pull over twice on the way home last night because he was screaming so bad in the car, crying,” she said.
The MultiCare Urgent Care clinic apologized in a statement which read in part “protocols were not followed during the clinic’s closing process, we will be conducting a thorough investigation.”
Lewitt said she’s been going to the urgent care center for so long that the staff had become like family. However, she doesn’t want this to happen to someone else. “Because the feeling I felt and how scared and alone, like I couldn’t do anything, I don’t want someone to ever go through that feeling. It was horrible,” she said.
A spokesperson says they are working with the family in the investigation and they’ve also implemented a new protocol: every room and every door needs to be checked by staff before the clinic closes.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.