The Death of Baby Cairo: A Case Study in Implicit Bias

Cornell Gunter’s Twitter feed read, “My son is gone. @Orlando Health killed my son.”

I stared at the tweet in disbelief. Orlando Health? The one in my community? The one where retired Residency Director, Dr. Steve Carlan managed most of my high-risk pregnant patients with compassion, laser-beam focus, and clinical excellence, BITD? THAT Orlando Health?

On April 21, 2021, 4-day old Cornell Gunter left this earth, although he should have remained. The chronology of events that his father, Gunter, documented are chilling:

04/17/2021 Gunter’s fiancé arrives at Orlando Health triage at 11:55 p.m. with complaints of decreased fetal movement x 10 hours at 40 weeks.

· The American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologists recommend induction of labor at 39 weeks to reduce adverse outcomes

Per Gunter’s note, the front desk clerk comments that “she’s been getting a lot of folks with complaints of babies not moving” and instructs Baby Cairo’s parents to have a seat where they wait for approximately 25 minutes

· Ten hours of decreased fetal movement is a red flag of potential problems. The standard of care is an immediate evaluation to document fetal well being with an ultrasound