NY’s ‘cruel approach’
No family leave for stillbirths
Women are denied paid family leave after stillbirth, says one angry mom who wants to change the law.
Cassidy Crough, 34, lost her daughter Olivia at 36 weeks when the umbilical cord became wrapped around her neck. Crough gave birth March 17.
“I still gave birth to a human being. I am still suffering all the postpartum symptoms that every other female does, the heavy bleeding, the depression, not being able to lift heavy objects,” she said.
“Their approach to this is thoroughly demoralizing and disgusting,” she said of New York state.
Her nightmare began during a routine appointment about a month ahead of her due date.
Crough, a former Bronx assistant district attorney who had just started a new job with a private law firm in the Hudson Valley, had noticed Olivia seemed to be less active and asked for fetal monitoring. Medical staff couldn’t find a heartbeat, and an ultrasound confirmed the worst.
“There’s no heartbeat, no life,” her doctor told her.
Crough and her husband were rushed to the hospital. Olivia arrived the next afternoon after 16 hours of induced labor, when the couple spent about 90 minutes with her before having to consider questions no new parents want to think about.
“Do you want an autopsy? Do you want to cremate her? Do you want a religious figure to bless her? What funeral home are you using?” Crough recalled.
Days later, the insurance company asked Crough to voluntarily withdraw her request for maternity leave — because Olivia had been stillborn. They offered short-term disability instead, which pays $554 total and gives just six weeks off.
New York’s Paid Family Leave, which only applies to parents who are “bonding” with their baby, provides roughly $1,000 a week. Though Crough lives in Connecticut, she’s not eligible for its family leave.
“I went through labor like everyone else, and now I’m expected to recover and go back in just a couple of weeks? I think that’s unrealistic and cruel,” said Crough, who refused to withdraw her leave request.