An Arizona man faces intimidation charges after threatening to blow up Franciscan Health if they didn’t say which nurse sent a Black woman in labor home, forcing her to give birth on the side of the road.
Brandyn L. Chamberlain, 37, of Florence, Arizona, was charged Thursday in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point with two felony counts of intimidation and two misdemeanor counts of harassment.
Court records do not yet indicate if he has a lawyer.
He has not been apprehended. When arrested, he is ordered held on a $1,000 cash bond.
Court records allege he made an 11-second phone call on Nov. 20 to the hospital. Police later traced him through the phone number on the caller ID.
“The nurse who was involved (in the) incident with that black female better be identified and she better be identified by the end of next week, or I’m gonna blow your (expletive) hospital up,” he said, according to court documents.
When a detective called him, Chamberlain first said he lost his phone at the park, then later admitted he was angry and called the hospital after seeing it on the news.
Mercedes Wells’ ordeal made national news, putting another spotlight on the wide disparities for Black pregnant women.
Wells, 38, of Dolton, in an earlier news conference, said she was in excruciating pain and should have never been discharged. Her husband Leon Wells said he was terrified and without any medical training as he helped with the birth of her fourth child, Alena.
Under a national spotlight, Franciscan Health fired the doctor and nurse who sent her home and now requires cultural competency training in all labor and delivery units. All women in labor have to be evaluated by a doctor before they are sent home.
Wells and her husband have retained an attorney and had a series of meetings with hospital administrators.
mcolias@post-trib.com
