Kashena Manuel recorded the alleged delay in medical care her daughter, Kiara, experienced during labor at the Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite. She felt compelled to capture video footage of Kiara’s struggles, claiming her actions were driven by shock and the need to create an unbiased record of the events.
“I had to film, and I showed the world what we went through, what my daughter went through, what my grandson went through just to get here,” Manuel told WFAA. “It was the video that they believed.”
Manuel stated that after her daughter Kiara’s water broke on the night of November 10, they immediately contacted the hospital and hurried there. A photograph taken at 11:43 p.m. in the car confirms they were on the way. At that point, Manuel noted, the time between Kiara’s contractions was quickly diminishing.
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“She went from four minutes to the car ride to two minutes apart, so we’re timing them,” Manuel recounted.
Manuel reported that they arrived at Dallas Regional Medical Center shortly before midnight. Upon arriving, they noticed two nurses stationed at the emergency room entrance.
“On the assumption they are waiting on us,” Manuel said. “When she realized my vehicle wasn’t an ambulance, she told me that space was for an ambulance only.”
Manuel recalled being instructed to drive around to the opposite side of the hospital. Following the directions, she then reached the new location and immediately ran inside to get help.
“I was told that there should be a wheelchair outside where the vending machines are,” Manuel said.
Manuel first attempted to locate a wheelchair near the vending machines but found none available. She alerted a nurse directly, who then retrieved and brought a wheelchair to her.
“I said, ‘I need assistance with getting her, are you not gonna help me?’ And she politely said ‘no’ and closed the door,” Manuel said.
A security guard then saw her and intervened, going to the car to help bring the visibly distressed Kiara inside the facility.
“When we opened the door, she was on all fours and she was screaming,” Manuel recounted.
Manuel briefly exited the emergency room to park her car after Kiara was taken in. When she returned, she discovered that Kiara had not received any additional medical care during her absence, she said.
“I see her parked on the side, isolated, alone. In pain by herself, people behind the desk working as normal, as they didn’t hear her. I walked up to them, and I was like, ‘what are we doing? She’s in active labor, she is about to have that baby,’ and they said. ‘We need the paperwork,’” Manuel said.
A picture with the time stamp of 12:15 a.m. showed Manuel at the emergency room registration window.
“I look over there, she literally had the paper in her hand, arched like a cat, screaming,” Manuel recalled. “I’m like, are you really wanting us to get this, and she’s in labor, and that lady looked at me, and she said, ‘The quicker you sign, the quicker we can get her in the back.’”
Manuel began recording her interaction with the staff. In one video, she can be heard asking, “If she has a birth in the chair, that’s what it is?”
A staff member could be heard in the recorded video saying, ‘I can’t carry her upstairs without…’ as Kiara is heard wailing.
Manuel could also be heard saying, “So, you’ll take a chance of her having infections and a baby in this chair? So, she’s not a priority.”
Manuel said she had Kiara sign the paperwork and was taken to the triage area.
“She was just weakened,” Manuel said. “She had no power, no control over her body, her words, she was trembling.”
Manuel’s recording continued to capture the triage phase, where a nurse questioned Kiara about her medical history. The routine questioning was starkly contrasted by Kiara’s visible distress; the video shows her screaming the phrase, “It’s in my a,”** and turning around onto her knees in the wheelchair.
Kiara was not taken up to the Labor and Delivery area until 12:29 a.m., Manuel stated. This meant that a half-hour had passed since the family first entered the hospital.
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“Soon as they pulled it shorts off, one of the nurses, she just froze,” Manuel said. “At this point, she grabbed his head that filled her hand. He was not crowning. He was birthing, and she begged my daughter not to move.”
At 12:35 a.m., Manuel said Kiara’s son was born.
“It wasn’t about my daughter, her pain, what she went through,” Manuel said. “And worst of all, my grandson, who had no voice, he wasn’t even considered. I was in the emergency room, and it was paperwork over life.”
After two days of attempting to file a formal complaint with hospital management and receiving no response, Manuel decided to take her complaint public by posting the recorded videos to social media.
“These are stories we hear, and we read all the time. We know they’re happening. But they don’t hear us,” Manuel said. “This is not Black against white. This is a system issue. That hospital. That’s culture.”
The Dallas Regional Medical Center reached out to WFAA, saying:
“At Dallas Regional Medical Center, the safety, dignity, and well-being of our patients are always our highest priorities. We are committed to providing compassionate, high-quality care to every person who comes through our doors, and we are reviewing this situation to understand what occurred. Due to patient privacy laws, we cannot share further details at this time, but our focus remains on ensuring that every patient receives the attentive, respectful care they deserve.”
Manuel shared that she stepped in because, as a mom, she felt an urgent need to stand up for Kiara. She emphasized that seeing her daughter go through such extreme pain was a really tough experience.
“Helpless because I couldn’t do anything for her,” Manuel said. “She sits and watches her son, and she would cry because if she moved the wrong way, he would not be here today.”
According to Manuel, her grandson had a bowel movement at birth and was delivered with his eyes open. She claimed that before she could finally hold him, hospital staff had to drain fluid due to a bowel movement. Both Kiara and her son are doing well, Manuel told WFAA.
READ ALSO: Hospital fires doctor and nurse who reportedly turned away woman in active labor
After the incident, Texas State Representative Rhetta Andrews Bowers, along with staff from Representative Linda Garcia’s office and other Texas House members, met with the CEO of Dallas Regional Medical Center, the Mesquite Mayor, and city staff on November 18 to address a “deeply concerning incident.”
The parties discussed the incident, its community impact, hospital procedures, and immediate corrective steps. The hospital confirmed an internal investigation is underway, the state officials said, adding that they demanded “full transparency and corrective action” to ensure dignified, timely patient care and requested ongoing follow-up conversations.
The following statement was released by Representative Garcia.
“In light of the recent viral video showing a woman in labor at Dallas Regional Medical Center, we want our community to know that we take this matter with the utmost seriousness. The circumstances depicted are deeply concerning and warrant immediate attention. We have been working to get more information since the moment this issue came to our attention.
“Earlier today, Representative Rhetta Bowers’ office called a joint meeting in collaboration with our office to meet directly with the CEO of Dallas Regional Medical Center and the Mayor of Mesquite to discuss the incident, the hospital’s policies, and the immediate steps being taken to ensure every patient is treated with dignity, compassion, and timely care.
“As your state representative, my priority is the safety and well-being of my constituents. Our office has heard from constituents who are understandably alarmed and seeking answers. Data from the CDC in 2023 shows that Black women in the U.S. died at a rate nearly 3.5 times higher than white women around the time of childbirth. We will continue monitoring the investigation closely, maintain communication with hospital leadership, and work collaboratively to help restore trust and ensure that every person in our community receives fair and appropriate medical care. Our office will also be sharing further community updates, taking additional action as the facts develop and the investigation progresses, and continuing to meet with Dallas Regional Medical Center.
“We ask the community for patience as the investigation proceeds, and we reaffirm our commitment to advocating for accountability, equity, and respect in every healthcare setting across our district and our state.”
