Two medical staffers working at a naval hospital in Florida could face legal action and were banned from taking care of patients after photos surfaced showing at least one giving the middle finger to an infant, calling babies “mini Satans,” and making a newborn baby dance to rap music.
The two staffers work at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, according to Action News Jax. In one video obtained by the news station, a female staffer wearing scrubs and gloves is seen holding a newborn and moving its arms to the beat of a rap song in an attempt to make the infant dance along to the music.
The video was posted to social media.
A photo, also posted to social media, shows a female medical staffer giving a newborn the middle finger. The photo is captioned “How I currently feel about these mini Satans.”
It’s unclear if the woman in the photo is the same featured in the video.
Naval Hospital Jacksonville said on its Facebook page Monday the two women were junior enlisted corpsman and were removed from patient care.
“It’s outrageous, unacceptable, incredibly unprofessional, and cannot be tolerated,” Naval Hospital Jacksonville’s Commanding Officer said in a statement. “We have identified those involved — two junior enlisted corpsmen (not nurses). They have been removed from providing patient care and they will be handled by the legal system and military justice.”
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting an investigation into the staffers’ conduct.
On Wednesday morning, Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Forrest Faison criticized the staffers’ behavior and ordered all commanding officers to make sure no additional patient photos were posted on social media.
Faison also banned personal cellphones from patient care areas, and instructed all commanding officers to notify expectant mothers planning to deliver in one of the Navy’s medical facilities of the incident in Jacksonville.
“Unprofessional and inappropriate social media behavior is inconsistent with both our core values of honor, courage and commitment as well as our medical ethics, violating the oaths we took for our profession and office,” he said. “This type of behavior also has a negative effect on mission accomplishment and good order and discipline.”
