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A scathing new investigation is raising serious questions about the quality of care at one of the Upper East Side’s most prestigious — and most popular — maternity facilities.
NewYork-Presbyterian’s Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns, located at 68th Street and York Avenue, has become the go-to destination for Manhattan’s expectant mothers in recent years, buoyed in part by viral TikTok videos showcasing the Chanel gift bags sent home with every new mom. By 2023, more babies were being born there than at any other hospital in the five boroughs. Last year, it delivered 8,900.
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But a lengthy investigation published this week by The Cut paints a troubling picture behind the marble bathrooms and designer goody bags — one of overcrowding, neglect, and unsanitary conditions.Among the most alarming accounts is that of a woman identified by the pseudonym Lindsay, who says she returned home from a scheduled C-section at Alexandra Cohen last year with a flea infestation. Lindsay told The Cut she first noticed what felt like mosquito bites around her ankles during her first night postpartum. The bites multiplied after she got home, eventually turning into throbbing blisters that left her feet too swollen to wear shoes. She later caught a bug jumping in her sheets — fleas, she concluded, that had come from the hospital. Her family has no pets.
The situation spiraled from there. Scratching and movement aggravated her surgical incision, which became infected; she required two courses of antibiotics. Her family — including a toddler and newborn — had to vacate their apartment twice for extermination. When she complained to the hospital, a patient-services representative said Alexandra Cohen was “unable to identify any potential source for the infestation,” though it offered to reimburse her for the extermination as a “courtesy.” A hospital spokesperson told The Cut it could not comment on individual cases and that no signs of fleas had been found.
Other patients described additional troubling experiences, including one woman whose back was found caked in dried feces by a postpartum nurse, and another who says her epidural failed but her complaints were dismissed for hours.
Ten doulas, who collectively have attended hundreds of births at Alexandra Cohen, told The Cut the hospital’s problems are distinct from those at peer institutions — and that the root cause is volume. The hospital has an annual capacity of more than 7,000 births but delivered nearly 9,000 last year. Several doulas said they counsel clients against delivering there and that some try not to work there at all. Unclean floors, used labor gowns left under beds, and long waits for postpartum rooms were among the conditions described.
“I understand that a labor-and-delivery environment is unpredictable,” one doula told The Cut. “They all have days where it’s crazytown.” But when chaos “is the norm,” she said, “that is a staffing problem.”
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In response to the investigation, the hospital offered a written statement but declined to address specific complaints. “Our team’s focus is on the safest care for mothers and their babies,” it read in part, “and we are carefully managing patient census to maintain exceptional patient experiences.” Speaking to the New York Post, which covered the investigation, a spokesperson added that Alexandra Cohen is “known and sought out by our patients for providing exceptional, personalized care” and called that reputation “a result of the skill, dedication and compassion of our remarkable teams.”Not all patients have had negative experiences. Several took to social media following The Cut’s publication to defend the hospital. “I gave birth here and it felt like a Four Seasons compared to every other hospital my friends gave birth in,” wrote one Instagram commenter, adding that the nurses and doctors were “incredible” and the rooms spotless. A second described delivering her “miracle baby” there after cancer and called it a “100000/10 experience.”
The hospital was created in part with a $75 million gift from hedge-fund billionaire and Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alexandra. Since 2004, it has sent new mothers home with Chanel beauty products — a tradition that gained wide attention after a 2024 TikTok went viral, generating nearly half a million likes. A vaginal delivery at the hospital can cost close to $30,000, according to the Post.
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