Women are naturally blessed with motherly instincts, owing to their loving and affectionate nature. But for one woman, opening her heart and home to a little one came with multiple challenges and sore trials—something she had never seen coming. Did she have a choice?
Miriam Simon lived with her husband, Travis, and their seven children in the city of Waverly in Bremer County, Iowa. In addition to being a loving wife and caring mother, she was a nurse who was extremely passionate about helping others.
Everything was going well for Miriam and her family until an unanticipated occurrence turned things around. Little did she know that the unlikely events would overshadow one of her life’s happiest moments. Here’s her complete story.
In September 2021, Miriam, who worked at Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah, Iowa, tended to a patient who was about to give birth to her baby. She did her job of providing the best care and support to the young mom and her newborn son.
Miriam didn’t see anything wrong with that, but nobody understood her sentiments.
According to Miriam, the same female patient reached out to her on Facebook with an unusual request. The young mom remembered her full name from the badge she wore in the hospital and found her profile on the social networking site.
When Miriam asked why she contacted her, the woman said she did it because of their good bonding during her time in the hospital. The Iowa nurse explained that the young mother was actually Hispanic and was in America on a student visa.
Because the woman couldn’t forget Miriam’s warm-heartedness, she confided in her. She explained how she faced difficulty managing her studies while staying in the dormitory and looking after her infant, who required undivided care and attention.
What followed next baffled Miriam, leaving her utterly lost and speechless. The woman asked her if she would consider adopting her baby boy, and Miriam’s immediate response was a big “No.”
It turned out she had her reasons, which had seemed quite valid then. Miriam said she refused the young mom because she already had her hands full with seven children, and her youngest was only eight.
However, when she related the incident to her husband, Travis, he showed interest in taking the baby and convinced Miriam to consider it. And so, with her husband’s support, Miriam told the woman she had no reservations about adopting her child.
Miriam admitted the documentation took little time to finalize, but the process itself proved costly. Soon afterward, she and Travis welcomed baby Ezra, who quickly became an essential part of their family.
The Waverly resident said she faced no problems until she told the story to a co-worker. She had mentioned to her colleague about forgotting what it was like to raise a little one, especially after a couple of years, and revealed she had taken in an ex-patient’s baby.
To her dismay, the colleague told her she had violated patient privacy laws and crossed the boundaries between a caregiver and their patients.
Not long after, Miriam said the medical center where she worked ended their contract with her. And several months later, the Federal Board of Nursing contacted her with unpleasant news—the state had decided to sanction her.
None of it made sense to Miriam; most of all, she could not comprehend why she was being reprimanded. All she had done was adopt a baby after his biological mother repeatedly requested her to do so.
Miriam didn’t see anything wrong with that, but nobody understood her sentiments. Despite her best efforts to explain to the board she had adopted the baby solely to help him and his mom, she was told her actions were inappropriate.
But that wasn’t all. Because Ezra’s mom was not American, the board allegedly made it seem like Miriam had taken advantage of the young woman pursuing her Master’s in the U.S.
Per Miriam, the board even claimed she was the one who initiated the adoption, although she said it wasn’t the case. After raising her seven kids, Miriam expressed no desire to grow her family until the biological mom contacted her on Facebook.
Miriam repeatedly pointed out that she only proceeded with the adoption process with the birth mother’s approval and she had no intentions of exploiting her.
However, after she was sanctioned by the nursing board for allegedly building an emotional connection with a patient for personal interests, Miriam’s new employer, Cresco’s Regional Health Services, fired her.
Miriam said her employer learned about the board’s decision through an online national database, “Nursys.” Although she took legal action against the false information on the database, and the board reportedly apologized to her, Miriam was not hired back.
Regarding the unfair decision, a distraught Miriam divulged, “Nursing is my career, my passion and my whole life…I just feel like everything has been ripped out from under me, all for something I did purely out of love and compassion for this baby and his mother.”
Iowa nurse who adopted patient’s baby is sanctioned by the state https://t.co/EeakPP0EeY
— KMTV 3 News Now (@3NewsNowOmaha) February 20, 2023
Despite everything she endured, Miriam, 43, confessed she didn’t regret her decision because she had done nothing wrong. She also revealed how the unlikely circumstances impacted her family’s emotional well-being, mainly her other kids.
Regardless, Miriam maintained a close connection with Ezra’s birth mom, and the three often connected through video calls.
Iowa Dispatch reported that the nursing board agreed to take their decision back, provided Miriam completed 30 hours of patient privacy training and attended a professional boundaries course.
As of February 24, 2023, Miriam’s attorney, Steve Lombardi, confirmed that the error had yet to be rectified, and his client was still unemployed.
