The Manhattan medical center where Jay-Z and Beyoncé welcomed their first child over the weekend is defending itself against allegations that it “neglected” its other parents during a Jayoncé-endorsed celebrity lockdown.
She’s barely three days old, but little Blue Ivy Carter is already stirring up controversy, thanks to the over-the-top security measures afforded to her famous parents at the Manhattan hospital where the tot made her diva-like debut last weekend.
Some patients at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, where Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles welcomed their first daughter on Saturday, are furious with the treatment they allegedly received at the hands of staffers.
The parents say security at Lenox Hill put the hallway leading to the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) on lockdown to accommodate Beyoncé’s famous visitors. The move affected other parents’ ability to spend time with their sick newborns.
The furious parents are demanding an apology.
“You’d think it was First Lady Michelle Obama in there having a baby,” laughed a longtime hospital staffer.
Additionally, several mothers, who had been gathering at a breastfeeding class at the hospital, are threatening to sue the administration about the way they were treated during the celebrity lockdown.
TMZ insiders says the new moms feel they were “neglected” by hospital staff and accused Bey’s hired muscle of being “extremely rude.”
“They were like Nazis,” said one hospital nurse, referring to the rude treatment she observed by the security guards.
There were even reports of a few cell phone seizures.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z welcomed their new princess at the Upper East Side hospital on Saturday evening. Baby Blue is reportedly named after her dad’s Blueprint album trilogy and her mom’s favorite number, four — represented by the Roman numeral IV or “Ivy.”
Reportedly, both Beyoncé and Jay-Z are obsessed with keeping all images of their new baby private.
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The drama surrounding Blue Ivy’s hotly-awaited arrival began Friday night, when Beyoncé checked in under the pseudonym “Ingrid Jackson” and settled into a sixth-floor suite to deliver.
“They just used the hospital like it was their own and nobody else mattered,” raged new dad Neil Coulon.
Coulon claims his efforts to see his premature, newborn twins in the NICU were disrupted by the birth of the Carter baby.
Neil says Beyoncé’s entourage had the entire floor made off-limits so her team could come and go as they wished.
“They locked us into the NICU and would say, ‘You can’t come out to the hallway for the next 20 minutes.’ When I finally was able to go back out, I went to the waiting room and they’d ushered my family downstairs!”
There are reports that hip-hop’s royal couple paid more than $1.2 million for an entire floor of the hospital. Lenox Hill has refuted those claims.
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On Monday evening, the hospital’s Executive Director Frank Danza issued the following statement in response to media reports regarding the presence of Beyoncé, Jay-Z and baby Blue at Lenox Hill. Danza denies that the couple paid a hefty sum to rent an entire floor and had security prevent other parents from seeing their own newborn children.
The statement reads:
“Lenox Hill Hospital and its staff were delighted to welcome the Carter family for the birth of their firstborn on Saturday evening, but we are troubled by the misinformation being circulated in some news media reports. The suggestion that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent an entire maternity floor is simply not true. The family is housed in an executive suite at the hospital and is being billed the standard rate for those accommodations. Our executive suites are available for any patient, including the food service and amenities provided to the Carter family.
The family does have its own security detail on site. However, the hospital has been and continues to be in control of managing all security at the facility. We have made every effort to ensure minimal disruption to other families experiencing the births of their own children over the past three days. No security plan that we or the Carters’ security team put in place would have prevented or delayed families from gaining access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and to date, no families have complained to the hospital about being denied access to the NICU.
Lenox Hill Hospital takes patient privacy and safety very seriously. And while we congratulate the Carter family on the birth of their child, we value the loyalty of ALL of our patients and always strive to ensure a positive experience, knowing that the birth of a child is a wonderful moment producing memories that last a lifetime.”
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