A Nova Scotia mother says she felt “completely violated” after a man allegedly filmed her breastfeeding her 10-month-old in a waiting room at Cape Breton Regional Hospital. Hospital security, she claims, did nothing to help.
“Five to 10 minutes into breastfeeding her, the woman sitting across from me started screaming at a gentleman who was also sitting across from me (and said), ‘I can’t believe you’re recording her breastfeeding!’” Nicole Fraser told CTV Atlantic.
Fraser says that when she looked up, she saw a man pointing a cellphone camera in her direction. The mother quickly went to hospital security to complain, but claims that nothing was done to help.
“The security guard said, ‘Well, there’s not too much we can do. We can’t take his phone. We can’t remove him from the building. There’s really nothing we can do for you,’” Fraser said.
Fraser says that she was wearing a large sweater and tank top at the time and that she regularly breastfeeds her child in public. Nothing like this, she adds, has ever happened before.
The hospital says that it is now investigating the incident.
“In relation to the response by security, that’s part of our follow-up and part of our discussion,” Nova Scotia Health Authority spokesperson Greg Boone told CTV Atlantic. “We’re not going to debate what security did or did not do or the level of response from security.”
Fraser says she also contacted police, who showed up at the hospital to take witness statements. It’s not clear, however, how they dealt with the man or whether charges will be laid.
“The video recording is an allegation because we don’t have exact or firm proof that there was an actual video recording made at the time,” Boone added. “But we’re going based on the complaint and the concerns from the mom that there was.”
Fraser says that she has since met with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and been given a verbal apology. Fraser said that she doesn’t want to see anyone at the hospital get fired over the incident, but hopes that it leads to more sensitivity training.
Boone told CTV Atlantic that it is natural, healthy and within a mother’s rights to breastfeed in public. Boone also added that hospital visitors are not to be recorded without their consent.
“I felt completely violated,” Fraser said. “Like I was being sexually objectified for doing something that I’m legally allowed to do, that every mother is legally allowed to do.”
Fraser says that she will continue to feed her child in public when needed. The Nova Scotia Health Authority says it plans to share the details of their investigation with the mother once it’s completed.
With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore
