We've all heard the saying, "To save someone else, you have to put your own safety mask on first," and even for parents, this can be true. We cannot care for others, at least not well, when we are not caring for ourselves.
But that does not give a parent the right to put their child's literal safety at risk, especially when the reason is (checks notes) a turkey sandwich.
New mom and TikToker Allie Ray from Texas went viral overnight for her "hack" for fast service while her newborn baby was in the NICU—and viewers are furious.
In the original video, Ray appears smug as she unplugs her baby's NICU machine, making it beep and sounding an alarm at the nurse's station.
Ray continues smiling with the unplugged cord in hand when a nurse can be heard coming into the room off-camera.
Ray then reassures the nurse:
"No, no, you're fine. It's not an emergency. I just was gonna see if you could bring me a turkey sandwich."
Many infuriated TikTokers responded to the video, from calling the new mom selfish and reckless to sharing how they never would have stooped to doing something like this while in the NICU.
But Dr. Seemed Mezher's response is among the most important, because he argues that Ray didn't just endanger her own child, but she also endangered every other baby who was in the NICU at that moment.
After Dr. Mezher watched the video with palpable horror and fury, he pointed out how he wished he could "unsee" that.
"My eyes want to retreat further into my skull after just witnessing this mother unplug her own NICU baby's monitoring device to trick the nurses into coming in so she could ask for a turkey sandwich."
Most importantly, because resources, nurses, and time are limited, Ray could have caused a casualty doing what she did, either involving her own baby or someone else's.
"Aside from the audacity of her recording the whole thing, she put her own premature baby in danger by doing that."
"Since apneic episodes where babies stop breathing can happen very suddenly in premature ones. And she would have distracted those nurses from the others on the unit."
You can watch the video here:
Viewers were furious, disgusted, and demanded better for the baby's future.
@drsermedmezher/TikTok
@drsermedmezher/TikTok
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@drsermedmezher/TikTok
@drsermedmezher/TikTok
With the amount of negative responses Ray received, it would seem that she would feel some sort of regret, but Dr. Mezher was disgusted to see that she was pleased with the traffic her video was getting.
Ray's follow-up video featured the following text overlay:
"Two million people have seen you put your NICU baby at risk over a turkey sandwich."
Smiling in the follow-up video, Ray said:
"Half a million views! All it's gonna do is bring more traction to my page and more money to my pocket, so..."
Disgusted, Dr. Mezher was relieved to report that the new mom had been reported to Child Protective Services (CPS), but little else is known about her involvement with the baby.
It's heart-wrenching to know what some people go through just to try to become parents, while others would be willing to risk everything for a sandwich.
