On Valentine’s Day, what should have been a routine trip to the maternity ward turned into a scene no parent wants to live through. Leanna Rudolph says she delivered her second son alone on the bathroom floor of the triage area at Katz Women’s Hospital, and now she and her husband, Paul, are pressing the hospital for answers and accountability.
The Queens couple says staff were slow to respond after they checked in during the early morning hours, and that the ordeal has left them rattled. Their newborn, Preston, has already had follow-up visits with a neurologist, the Rudolphs say, and they want the hospital to retrain its labor-and-delivery staff.
Leanna and Paul told Eyewitness News that they arrived at the triage area around 2:15 a.m. on February 14 and were told it could be about an hour before a delivery room opened up. While they waited, Leanna says her water broke inside a bathroom stall. She screamed for help, and Paul says their son “was dropped to the floor headfirst” before nurses arrived “minutes” later. The family also said baby Preston has already seen a neurologist, according to ABC7 New York.
What Katz Women’s Hospital Is
Katz Women’s Hospital is a dedicated maternity hospital located on the Long Island Jewish Medical Center campus and is part of the Northwell Health system. When it opened, the facility highlighted its single-bed rooms and a standalone women’s pavilion designed to centralize maternity services on the Glen Oaks campus, as reported by QNS.
Hospital Response And Review
In a statement, Katz Women’s Hospital said its “labor and delivery team triages expectant mothers based on acuity” and called any report of patients feeling unheard “deeply troubling.” The hospital told reporters that concerns like this would typically prompt an internal review, according to ABC7 New York.
Why Triage Timing Matters
Hospitals commonly use standardized obstetric triage tools, for example the Maternal-Fetal Triage Index, to rank how urgently patients need to be seen based on symptoms and vital signs. Research has linked these systems to faster nurse contact and timelier care. A systematic review and related studies also note that triage volumes can exceed a unit’s actual birth volumes, and that standardized approaches can improve assessment and prioritization. Reviews and implementation research on these tools are summarized on PubMed Central and in implementation reports at ObgynKey.
What Comes Next
The Rudolphs say their immediate focus is on healing and on Preston’s ongoing medical care, while they continue to push the hospital for clarity on what went wrong and for staff retraining. Katz has not publicly announced any specific timeline for a review, beyond stating that concerns like this would typically lead to an internal look at what happened. The family says they plan to keep demanding accountability as their son’s care moves forward.
