Man's Wife Met An Early Demise, Then He Noticed Hospital Staff Acting 'Off'
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.
Morning Of The Incident
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 four am and realized she was having an asthma attack.
Healthy Life
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 who 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.
Tragic Circumstances
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?
Never Reached Help
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 911. 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.
Medical Nightmare
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.
Days After
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.
Police Aide
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.
Turn of Events
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.
Lack of Response
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.
Caught On Tape
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 911.
Dire Search
Laura managed to tell the 911 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.
No One Saw Her
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 911 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.
Wasted Time
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.
Slow To Act
A police officer on the scene noted in his report noted 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."
Course of Action
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 Lubin & Meyer, a prominent medical malpractice firm, knowing that a successful settlement couldn't bring his wife back but it would hold the hospital responsible and prevent further tragedies. He wanted to fight for Laura.
Legal Loopholes
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 90K in fines. But their hands were tied from doing much more. Massachusetts law protected hospital staff and prevented fines over 100K in wrongful death suits. Peter felt deflated.
Different Method
Feeling hopeless, Peter knew something still had to be done. No one else should have to suffer like Laura did when one-minute delays in emergency response are responsible for thousands of deaths a year. With a lawsuit off the table, he wondered, what could he do to save even just one life? How do you change the system?
Last Chance
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.
Bittersweet Goal
The state representatives and bill sponsors let Peter know that if they wanted a 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.
A Better Tomorrow
Peter and his in-laws attended the social distanced ceremony where MA 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.
Medical Skepticism
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.
Infertility Struggles
Pauline Chambless 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 McMorries’ office in Nacogdoches, Texas.
A Caring, Polite, and Likable Doc
“He was the fertility doctor in our area. You couldn’t have asked for a more caring, polite, likable person and doctor," Pauline said. She felt comfortable, confident, and safe working with Dr. McMorries (below). It was safe to say Pauline and her womb were in the best hands.
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Filling out Paperwork
It seemed that way, anyway. Just like any alternative methods 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.
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Artificial Insemination
Before they knew it, the couple was paired with hand-selected, anonymous sperm donors that matched their desired characteristics. Pauline endured two-and-a-half years of artificial insemination appointments, praying and hoping a pregnancy would stick.
A Supportive Doc
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. McMorries, as he was always there for emotional support.
Building Trust
“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,” explained Pauline. And in 1986, a miracle happened.
The Birth of Jessica
A pregnancy finally stuck, and Dr. McMorries was there for Pauline throughout all nerve-racking 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.
Open and Honest
Jessica was born beautiful and healthy, and Pauline and her husband never wanted to keep any secrets from her; therefore, Jessica grew up knowing she was conceived with help from a donor. So as she got older, the curious kid wondered who her biological daddio was.
Feeling Special
“Mom was completely honest, and it made me feel special. I knew how hard she’d 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 (right) was determined to get some answers.
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More to the Mystery
"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.
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Burning Questions
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.
DNA Test
She took a DNA test, thrilled to finally have some concrete answers. When the results came back on February 23, Jessica was so ecstatic that she called 67-year-old Mama Pauline. “My heart was pounding so hard — I could hear it,” she relayed.
Siblings Galore
“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.
Reaching Out
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.
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Shocking Birth Story
“Hi! Do you know the details of our birth story? Was Dr. McMorries your mom’s doctor?” Eve's message read. While Jessica was a bit puzzled, she never could've expected what Eve wrote next. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he is also our biological father.”
Shell-Shocked
As you could 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!?"
Fertility Fraud
“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."
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Illicit Inseminations
Indiana University law professor Jody Lyneé Madeira defines fertility fraud as “illicit inseminations — an intentional 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.
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Confronting Dr. McMorries
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. McMorries, she confronted him. He wound up sending her a bizarre letter in response.
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"Improving" Conception Chances
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 denied claims that Dr. McMorries got her permission to do so.
A New Law
Eve testified to a Senate panel in April 2019, and that September, it officially became a sexual assault for a healthcare professional to use human sperm, eggs, or embryos from an unofficial donor in Texas. Without Eve's nudging for the passage of Senate Bill 1259, it may've never happened.
Filing Complaints
Jody Lyneé Madeira explained that when cases such as these emerge decades later, way after statues of limitations have ended and documents have been destroyed, pressing charges isn't an easy task. The professor even filed a complaint against Dr. McMorries with the Texas Medical Board, but sadly nothing came of it.
Unforeseeable Hardships
"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.”
Showing Empathy
“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 for my mom," Jessica said in frustration. The mother and daughter felt anger and sorrow for each other, clearly both empathetic individuals.
Relatives Coming Out of the Woodwork
After doing more digging, Jessica has 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.
Eternally Grateful
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.
J.J. Mangina
Little J.J. 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 question all of this.
Alabama
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.
Cleveland
According to J.J.'s father, his mysterious girlfriend dipped on the family when J.J. 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.
Athletes!
For a while, things were a dream. J.J. was killer at school, as he received straight As and blessed Cleveland High School with his athletic abilities. People loved J.J., how could they not? He was a model child.
When senior year rolled around, J.J. got to applying to colleges, 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 J.J.'s college applications 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 J.J.'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. J.J. 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 J.J.'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, J.J.'s mother asked Bobby to babysit their little one. Since Bobby and J.J.'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 ten-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 J.J. Mangina. Though authorities immediately began a massive man hunt for little Julian, a boy with brown hair, big brown eyes, a mild stutter, and a left cheek dimple.
Alas, even with the 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 J.J., 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 2, 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 grandmother didn't hold back with 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' 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, we might've 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 wanted 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.
1. In Nigeria, Amina Ali Nkeki 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.
2. 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.
3. Xiao Yun, 14, fled her home in rural China after a fight with her parents. Ten 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.
4. In 1991, when she was just 11, Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped by Phillip 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 Phillip's children. Thankfully, police discovered her in 2009 and returned her to her family, while Phillip and Nancy were both sent to prison.
5. Steven Stayner of Merced, California, was abducted by a man named Kenneth Parnell in December 1972 when he was just seven years old. Kenneth held Steven captive, sexually assaulting him and torturing him for eight years; he even convinced Steven that his family gave him away. Steven finally broke out in 1980 after Kenneth kidnapped another boy and the two vowed to escape together.
6. A man named Steve Carter had been scrolling through a website dedicated to missing children cases in 2012 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 Marx 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.
7. 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.
8. 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."
9. Shawn 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.
10. 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 Gault one year later to arrest him for murder... and they discovered Danielle hidden in a locked cupboard instead.
11. Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus 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.
12. Charlie Bothuell, 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.
13. Gregory Jean Jr. disappeared suddenly when he 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.
14. 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.
15. Natasha Ryan was 14 when she was abducted in Australia in 1998. A man who'd 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.)
16. 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.
17. Connie McCallister 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.
18. At the age of 15, Tanya Kach 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 another six years before she was able to escape; Thomas, meanwhile, was sent to prison.
19. 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.
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