Amanda Burke, a 29-year-old nurse, is now facing criminal charges after a father captured her mistreating his newborn baby on camera at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffolk County, New York.
The footage taken on February 6 in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit allegedly shows Burke flipping the baby over and then forcefully pushing its face down into the bassinet.
Fidel Sinclair, the father of the two-day-old baby named Nikko, was recording the incident in shock. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney described the charges against Burke as “truly disturbing”; however, her lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, argued that the facts do not support the charges and that Burke is an exemplary nurse who treats infants with love and kindness.
Nikko is now back at home and said to be doing well, but the Department of Education was notified, and Burke’s license as a registered nurse may be suspended. Burke is scheduled to be arraigned on May 2.