Hospital calls security on woman after she was breastfeeding in the waiting room

A new mom is seething after a Texas hospital had her kicked out while breastfeeding her son as sje waited for the little boy's vaccination appointment.

Erin Pena took to Facebook to blast the University Medical Center in Lubbock on Tuesday, who she claimed threatened to cancel her doctors appointment if she didn't move to a bathroom or private room the feed.

The mother had been sitting waiting for her OBGNY for about an hour when her son became hungry - but was told to cover up.

'I said I had the right to breastfeed anywhere. (The receptionist) said if I don't stop she will cancel my baby's appointment.

Furious: Erin Pena, of Lubbock, Texas, says that after refusing to move to a private room while breastfeeding her son at University Medical Center, security were called and she was walked out of the premises

Hungry: Pena said she had sitting in the waiting about an hour when she started breastfeeding her four-month-old son

Scene: Security was called at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, when Erin Pena confronted her doctor over being asked to cover up while breastfeeding

'I refused and she canceled it, so I went to find the doctor thinking she would be reasonable and she wasn't.

She was condescending, kept calling me ''honey''.

'I said, "No one in the lobby even cared (that I was breastfeeding)''.

'She rudely said, yeah, they do, they just don't say it to your face.'

When Pena became agitated, the doctor called security.

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Pena then left the medical center with the security guard.

'I'm so disgusted,' Pena said.

'My doctor even lied saying I was walking around with my breast hanging out, even though she never saw what happened.

'I was just sitting there in a chair. It was sickening.'

UMC have since apologized for the incident, after word of it started spreading on social media.

'Sickened': Pena said she expected more from her female doctor, who delivered her son

Family: Pena and her husband speak with a local news station about what happened at the hospital

Taking responsibility: UMC spokesman Eric Finley apologized on behalf of the hospital, but maintained Pena was asked to leave because of her behavior, not because of breastfeeding

They told KCBD the hospital takes full responsibility, however does not agree with all of Pena's story.

But UMC Representative Eric Finley says the worker was out of line.

'Our staff asked that woman to leave unless she covered herself up, which is absolutely wrong,' hospital spokesman Eric FInley told the station.

'We apologize to that mother and to all breast-feeding mothers.'

'The patient eventually went back to complain to the doctor.

'She was then in a place where she was not allowed to be, so she wasn't asked to leave because she was breastfeeding.

'But still, had we acted more appropriately this never would have happened.'

Pena said that, above everything, she expected more from the female doctor, who is the one that delivered her baby.

KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

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Reinaldo Massengill

Update: 2024-06-24

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