Left Fighting for Air at Virtua Mount Holly Hospital: Perdisha “Para” Champion
In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, we examine the death of twenty-eight-year-old Perdisha “Para” Champion and the questions her family says still remain about what happened inside Virtua Mount Holly Hospital in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Through a direct interview with Para’s mother, Sophia Shannon, this episode follows the final hours before her daughter’s death and the anguish that followed. Sophia says she watched Para experience severe medical distress during a night that should have ended in care, not loss.
What emerges is not only a mother’s grief, but a family’s demand for answers. Sophia does not speak like someone searching for closure. She speaks like a mother who believes her daughter was failed. As this episode traces the timeline she shared, it also steps into a larger and more painful conversation about medical accountability, delayed response, unequal treatment, and the mistrust many Black families already carry into hospital spaces. This is the story of Perdisha “Para” Champion, the mother who refuses to let her name disappear, and the questions that still refuse to go away.
If you want a shorter version for platforms with tighter space, use this: In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, host Samantha Paul examines the death of twenty-eight-year-old Perdisha “Para” Champion and the questions her family says remain about what happened inside Virtua Mount Holly Hospital in New Jersey. Based on a direct interview with Para’s mother, Sophia Shannon, this episode explores Para’s final hours, a family’s demand for answers, and the larger issues of medical accountability and Black medical mistrust.
Related reading: Death Apnea, a No Tears For Black Girls: Case Files novel by J.C. Reedburg, explores medical racism, hospital erasure, and what happens when Black women are treated as disposable inside systems that were supposed to protect them.
CREDITS:
Created, Written, & Produced by John Reedburg
Hosted & Narrated by Samantha Paul
Production Company: John Reedburg Media
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/@NoTearsForBlacksGirls
facebook.com/notearsforblackgirls
instagram.com/notearsforblackgirls
tiktok.com/@notearsforblackgirls
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Once alone in these hospitals
because they don't give a fuck
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about us black people.
They don't care about us.
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They'd rather sit there and let
us die so they can take out
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00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,440
orchids.
You understand what I'm saying?
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My baby fought and they gave up
on her.
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00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,840
She still had 50% heart rate and
they said they said enough.
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We ain't.
We can't do no more.
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She had 50% heart rate.
They were supposed to still keep
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going.
So just advocate for your loved
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00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,200
ones, be there for them, love on
them for heart.
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I missed my baby because she was
a fighter.
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She was my writer.
And now she's gone.
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I'm going to miss her
everything, but I'm going to
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fight for her.
Already got a lawyer and I'm
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telling you I'm going to make
them pay.
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I'm going to make them pay.
So y'all just please scream Pat.
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You should name all over, all
over the place, all over the
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Internet because she deserves to
still be here with us.
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They took her life.
So I just wanted to tell y'all
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that story and I just want
everybody to scream at at 123
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para.
A grieving mother is standing
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outside Virtua Mount Holly
Hospital in Mount Holly, NJ Not
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at home, not in private.
Not whispering through shock.
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Standing in front of the
building itself.
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Standing in front of the place
where she says her daughter was
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failed.
And she is saying something so
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painful, so public and so
serious that it forces a
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question before this story has
even properly begun.
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Why is Sophia Shannon back here?
Why is she standing outside this
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hospital saying this?
What happened inside Virtua
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Mount Holly that turned grief
into accusation?
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Imagine this.
It is late.
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00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:09,720
Not the kind of late that feels
dangerous.
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00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,760
Not the kind of late that tells
you your life is about to split
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in two.
Just late.
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The television is on.
The house has settled into
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itself, the kind of ordinary
night that only becomes sacred
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after it is gone.
You are sitting with your
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00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,320
daughter, watching TV, talking
the way mothers and daughters
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00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:35,240
talk when there is no audience,
no ceremony, no warning, no sign
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00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,640
that before the sun comes up you
will be standing inside a
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hospital trying to make people
understand that your child is
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dying.
Then she tells you her stomach
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00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,520
hurts.
At first it sounds small,
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manageable, the kind of thing
people say at home all the time.
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Maybe she needs to use the
bathroom.
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Maybe it passes.
Maybe by morning she will be
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fine.
So you do what mothers do.
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You watch, you listen, you wait,
You do not panic too early, not
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00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:10,960
yet, not while there is still
room to believe this night will
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stay ordinary.
For a moment, it even seems like
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maybe it will.
Then she starts coughing and
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what comes up has blood in it.
That is the moment the room
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changes.
That is the moment the night
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changes.
That is the moment your body
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knows.
Before your mouth can say it out
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loud, something is wrong.
You tell your daughter she needs
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to go to the hospital, but she
does not want to go.
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Not because she is reckless, not
because she does not understand
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her own body, but because she
has been to hospitals before.
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Because she already knows what
it feels like to walk into a
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medical space needing help and
still feel judged.
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Still feel looked at sideways,
still feel like people are
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deciding who you are before they
decide what is wrong with you.
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Because for some black women,
the fear is never just the
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illness.
The fear is also the way you may
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be treated while you are trying
to survive it.
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So you wait a little longer.
You keep watching her.
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00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,600
You keep hoping.
You keep trying to believe this
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moment might pass.
Then she says something that
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strips the room of all denial.
She is having trouble breathing
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now.
There is no more.
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Maybe no more talking yourself
out of fear.
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No more wait and see.
It is around 2:00 in the
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morning.
You call 911 when emergency
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responders arrive.
Her breathing is shallow.
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You can hear the labor in it.
You can hear the strain in it.
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Every breath sounds like work.
Every inhale sounds like a body
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trying to stay ahead of
something it is already losing
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ground to.
Before she leaves, she says she
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needs to use the bathroom.
There is blood there too.
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You tell them.
You tell the people who are now
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responsible for your daughter's
life what you saw.
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Then you ask the question
families ask when they still
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00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,200
believe there is time.
Where are you taking her?
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You know where her doctors are.
You know where her records are,
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00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,440
you know which hospital feels
safer in your spirit.
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00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,240
But you are told they want to
take her somewhere local.
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So now your daughter is in an
ambulance and you are doing what
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00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,480
mothers do when fear gets too
big to hold properly.
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00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,280
You are watching, listening,
praying, trying not to let your
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00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,400
panic become hers.
Then you get to the hospital and
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instead of movement, there is
waiting.
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Instead of urgency, there is
distance.
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Instead of being right there
with your daughter, you are told
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to sit in the waiting room and
time starts doing something
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00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,120
cruel.
It stretches, It hardens.
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It turns every minute into a
question.
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00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,320
What is happening back there?
Who is watching her?
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00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,040
Is somebody seeing what you saw?
Is somebody moving fast enough?
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00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,000
By the time they bring you back,
hours have passed.
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00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:10,440
Your daughter has soiled
herself.
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Her breathing is worse, and you
are looking at the room, looking
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00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,840
at her, looking at the staff,
trying to understand how
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00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:21,440
somebody who came in struggling
for air still looks like
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00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,520
somebody fighting to survive.
Then eventually the breathing
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machine comes, the mask, the
intervention that in your mind
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should have already been there.
It goes on, and almost
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00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,600
immediately your daughter starts
pulling at it, trying to tug it
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00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,480
away, trying to tell them
something is wrong, trying to
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00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,400
tell you something is wrong.
And then she says the words that
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will live in your body forever.
Mom, this is way too much air.
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That is the last thing she says.
Then the numbers start falling.
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Her heart rate drops.
People start moving.
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00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,840
Not in the order you think they
should, not in the speed you
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00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,560
think they should.
Hands are on her.
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Restraints go on her arms.
You are screaming.
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00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,280
You are asking why they are not
doing more, why they are not
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00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:18,080
doing it now, why your
daughter's body is collapsing in
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00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:20,400
front of you while you are still
trying to make somebody
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00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,880
understand that this is not just
another patient, this is your
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child.
Then she codes, then again, then
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again, then again, and somewhere
between the machines, the
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shouting, the medical language
and the terror, a mother begins
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to understand that her daughter
may be dying inside the very
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place that was supposed to save
her.
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That mother is Sophia Shannon.
Her daughter was Perdisha, Para
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00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,160
Champion, affectionately known
by her parents and friends as
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Para.
This is no tears for black
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00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:58,880
girls.
The cases they ignored.
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I'm Samantha Paul.
Tonight we are not just looking
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00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,120
at the death of a 28 year old
black mother.
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We are looking at what her
mother says happened inside
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Virtua Mount Holly Hospital.
We are looking at the decisions,
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00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,320
the delays, the treatment, the
moment Sophia says should have
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gone differently.
And we are looking at why.
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This story is landing inside a
much bigger conversation about
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bedside neglect, patient
treatment, medical
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00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:32,919
discrimination, and the deep
mistrust so many Black families
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00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:35,840
already carry when they walk
into spaces like this.
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What you are about to hear is
based on public records, public
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00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,039
family statements and a direct
interview.
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00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:47,480
Our show's investigator and
producer JC Reedberg conducted
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00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,320
with Sophia Shannon about what
happened to her daughter.
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No Tears for Black Girls reached
out to Virtua Mount Holly
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Hospital regarding Perdisha
Champion, the family's
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allegations and concerns about
the care she received.
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By the time of this recording,
the hospital had not responded.
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And that matters because Sophia
is not speaking like a mother
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who is confused about what
happened.
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She is speaking like a mother
who believes her daughter was
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failed.
And before we go deeper into the
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hospital room, before we examine
the final hours and before we
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00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,520
look at what people have been
saying publicly about Virtua
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Mount Holly, we need to
understand who Para was.
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Because before she became a
case, before she became an
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00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,400
allegation, before her mother
came back to this hospital
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demanding answers, Perdisha Para
Champion was a daughter, a
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00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,000
mother and a woman her family
loved fiercely.
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And according to Sophia Shannon,
a woman who was still trying to
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00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:52,080
live, Sophia describes her
daughter as beautiful inside and
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00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,680
out.
Not just pretty, not just
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00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:57,480
stylish.
Beautiful in the way she loved
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people, beautiful in the way she
showed up, beautiful in the way
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she carried herself through
pain.
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00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,160
She says Para loved hard.
If you were her friend, she
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00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,800
would go to bat for you.
If you were down, she would make
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room for you if you needed help.
She was the kind of person who
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did not just say she cared, she
acted like it.
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And those details matter,
because too often black women
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are only described after
something terrible has already
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00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,880
happened to them.
Only described once they are
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00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,200
gone.
Only described once the world
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00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,280
has to be convinced their life
mattered.
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00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,560
But before she became a hospital
allegation.
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Before she became a death
certificate, before she became a
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00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,400
mother, standing outside a
building begging for answers,
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00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:49,920
Perdisha Para Champion was a
full person.
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00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,360
She was joy, she was energy, she
was style.
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She was somebody whose presence,
according to Sophia, could be
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00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,040
felt the moment she entered a
room.
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Sophia says her daughter had a
gift for reading people, reading
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their spirit, reading their
energy, reading whether somebody
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00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,320
was genuine or not.
And that kind of instinct
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00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,600
usually comes from surviving
enough to know what people feel
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00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,960
like before they fully reveal
themselves.
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00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,760
Sophia says.
Para loved to dance, loved to
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00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,400
laugh, loved to have a good
time.
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00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,840
She says her daughter did not
need anything extra to become
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00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,600
the life of the room she already
was.
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00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:38,240
She loved looking good, hair
done, nails done, fresh outfits,
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00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,920
fresh sneakers, the newest
Jordans.
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Again, those details matter
because those are the details of
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00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,640
a living woman, the details of
taste, the details of selfhood,
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the details that keep a person
from being flattened into
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00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,440
tragedy.
Sophia says Para was a great
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00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:02,000
daughter, a great sister, a
great aunt, a hard worker before
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00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,880
her health began taking more
from her.
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00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,200
But above all, she was Ava's
mother.
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And when Sophia talks about that
part of her daughter, you can
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00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,720
hear the story settle into its
deepest truth.
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00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,360
Because Ava was not a side note
in Para's life.
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00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,120
Ava was the center.
Sophia says Para made sure Ava
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00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,640
had what she needed.
Not just clothes, not just food,
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00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,400
not just the visible things
people can point to and tally
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00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,000
up.
She made sure her daughter felt
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00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,360
loved.
If Ava liked art, Para got her
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00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,800
art supplies, sketchbooks,
colored pencils, pens, things
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00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,000
that fed her imagination.
She took her to the park.
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00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,200
She bought her little gifts.
She spent time with her.
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00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,080
She paid attention.
And Sophia says her daughter
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00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,920
would give her last for Ava.
That sentence tells you almost
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00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,680
everything you need to know.
She would give her last for Ava.
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00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,000
That is not poetic language.
That is not a mother dressing
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00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,840
grief up to make it sound
beautiful.
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00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,320
That is a mother telling you
exactly what kind of woman her
217
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,240
daughter was.
A woman who was living for her
218
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,040
child.
A woman who still had future in
219
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,120
her mind.
A woman who still expected to be
220
00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,720
here.
And that is what makes the next
221
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,800
part so important.
Because if you only hear the
222
00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,560
word lupus, you may start making
peace too early with an ending
223
00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:30,760
Sophia does not accept.
Public memorial pages and the
224
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,760
family fundraiser say Para had
been battling lupus.
225
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,640
That part is true.
But Sophia says that phrase by
226
00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,720
itself is not enough.
Because in her view, Para was
227
00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,760
not simply declining.
She was trying to recover,
228
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:49,720
trying to get stronger, trying
to get back to herself, trying
229
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,360
to stay here.
Sophia says her daughter had
230
00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,840
been gaining weight back,
getting stronger, wanting to go
231
00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,640
outside again, wanting to do
more, wanting to be more like
232
00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,440
herself again.
That matters because too many
233
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,080
people hear chronic illness and
quietly start rewriting the
234
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,080
story backward.
They start treating the ending
235
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,920
like it was already written,
like any loss after that becomes
236
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,040
inevitable.
Sophia does not believe that.
237
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,120
She says Para was not giving up.
She says Para was trying to
238
00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,400
live, and she gives details that
make that plain.
239
00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:29,200
She says her daughter loved to
cook, really cook.
240
00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,640
Not just enough to fix something
quick, not just enough to get
241
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,000
through the day.
Cook with feeling, Cook with
242
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,600
skill.
Cook the kind of food people
243
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,480
remember.
And according to Sophia, even
244
00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,720
when Para was in a wheelchair,
she was still cooking, still
245
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,160
making meals, still doing what
she loved, still trying to keep
246
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,680
some sense of normal life alive
inside a body that had already
247
00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,560
put her through too much.
Then Sophia shares something
248
00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,800
that changes the way you hear
every single part of what comes
249
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,640
next.
She says that about a month
250
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,440
before the final night of her
daughter's life, Para had all 5
251
00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,960
toes amputated from 1 foot
because of circulation issues.
252
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:18,800
Just sit with that for a second.
A young woman, a mother, already
253
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,440
living with lupus, already
carrying pain, already trying to
254
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:27,800
recover, and now recovering from
losing all 5 toes on one foot.
255
00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,080
According to Sophia, what first
looked like one thing became
256
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,920
much worse.
The condition worsened, the toes
257
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:40,520
turned black, deteriorated, and
eventually had to be removed.
258
00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,960
So when Sophia describes her
daughter as a fighter, she is
259
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,600
not using that word loosely.
She means her daughter had
260
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,880
already been through a level of
pain and medical trauma that
261
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,280
would have broken a lot of
people physically, mentally,
262
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,640
spiritually.
And still, in Sophia's telling,
263
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:01,880
Para was trying to come back
from it.
264
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,880
Still trying to heal, still
trying to get stronger, still
265
00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:11,480
trying to be here for Ava, still
trying to remain in her own
266
00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,360
life.
That is the woman Sophia says
267
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,280
went into Virtua Mount Holly
Hospital.
268
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,960
Not a woman her family had
already begun preparing to lose.
269
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,560
Not a woman already framed in
their minds as slipping away.
270
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,720
A woman in recovery.
A woman still trying.
271
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:32,120
A woman still reaching for life.
And Sophia says her daughter's
272
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,040
hopes were not abstract.
They were specific.
273
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,680
She wanted to be here for Ava.
She wanted to watch her grow up,
274
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,520
to watch her walk across that
stage, to watch her become a
275
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,720
woman, to be there for the
milestones mothers are supposed
276
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,280
to reach.
That was the future Sophia says
277
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,680
was still alive in her
daughter's mind.
278
00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,120
That was the future she says her
daughter was still moving
279
00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,280
toward.
And that is why Sophia cannot
280
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,920
accept what happened next as
simply nature taking its course.
281
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,440
Because in her mind, Para did
not walk into that hospital as
282
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,480
somebody fading quietly out of
life.
283
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,760
She walked into that hospital as
a young black mother, still
284
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,880
trying to hold on to it.
Which brings us back to the
285
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,839
night everything changed.
According to Sophia, it started
286
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:26,200
at home, quietly, ordinarily,
the way so many disasters do.
287
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,840
She and Para were watching
television together the way they
288
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,080
often did.
And sometime that night, Para
289
00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,680
said something that, at first,
did not sound like the beginning
290
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,240
of a death story at all.
My stomach hurts.
291
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:45,240
At first, it sounded small,
manageable, the kind of thing
292
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,040
people say at home every day and
live through every day.
293
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,200
But this time, that was only the
beginning.
294
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,120
According to what Sophia Shannon
told our show's investigator and
295
00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:59,480
producer JC Reedberg, the shift
from ordinary night to medical
296
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,160
emergency did not happen all at
once.
297
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,760
It happened in stages.
That is part of what makes this
298
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,520
story so hard to hear, because
there was still time in the room
299
00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:14,240
for hope, still time for denial,
still time to tell yourself,
300
00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:20,000
maybe this passes, maybe this is
1 bad moment, maybe by morning
301
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,200
everything settles down.
Sophia says she and Para were at
302
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,080
home watching television
together, doing something
303
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,840
simple, familiar and
unremarkable, the kind of night
304
00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,160
nobody records because nobody
thinks they are living inside
305
00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,520
the last normal hours they will
ever have with somebody they
306
00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,520
love.
Then Para says her stomach
307
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,000
hurts.
At first, that does not sound
308
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,520
like catastrophe.
It sounds like discomfort, a
309
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:52,360
bathroom problem, a passing
issue, something people say
310
00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:56,680
every day and survive every day.
Sophia says they thought maybe
311
00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,720
she needed to use the bathroom.
Maybe once she went, the pain
312
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,600
would ease up.
Maybe that was all it was.
313
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,080
And for a moment, there was
still room to believe that there
314
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,400
was still room to think.
This night had not turned.
315
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:16,360
Then Para started coughing, and
according to Sophia, what came
316
00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:20,160
up had blood in it.
Not a little fear, not a vague
317
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,840
feeling something was off blood.
That is the point where a
318
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,000
mother's instincts stop
negotiating.
319
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,520
That is the point where the room
stops feeling ordinary.
320
00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,480
That is the point where your
body starts telling you the
321
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,960
truth before your mind has fully
caught up to it.
322
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,520
Something is wrong.
Sophia says she told her
323
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,000
daughter she needed to go to the
hospital, but Para did not want
324
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,240
to go.
And if you rush past that
325
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:47,960
detail, you miss something
important.
326
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,440
She did not want to go.
Not because she did not
327
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,200
understand that something was
happening.
328
00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,480
Not because she was being
stubborn for no reason.
329
00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,680
According to Sophia, Para hated
going to the hospital because of
330
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,360
how she had been treated before.
That sentence matters because
331
00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:08,760
now the emergency is unfolding
inside a much older story.
332
00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:14,160
A story about prior experiences,
prior mistreatment, prior
333
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:18,080
humiliation, prior moments that
taught a young Black woman that
334
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,400
walking into a hospital did not
always mean walking into care.
335
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,080
Sophia says her daughter had
been made to feel like less of a
336
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,840
person.
Made to feel like staff thought
337
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,440
she was there for pain medicine
instead of real pain.
338
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,960
Made to feel like her illness
was not being seen with the
339
00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,800
seriousness it deserved.
And once you understand that,
340
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:43,200
the hesitation makes more sense.
Now the question is not just why
341
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,200
didn't she want to go?
The question becomes what has
342
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,640
happened to this woman in
medical spaces before that made
343
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,560
her afraid to enter one while
actively getting sicker?
344
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:54,720
That is a different kind of
detail.
345
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,120
That is the kind of detail that
tells you this story is not just
346
00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,080
about one night.
It is also about the memory a
347
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,840
body carries into crisis.
Sophia says they stayed home a
348
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:10,560
little longer not because the
danger had disappeared, because
349
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,200
there was still that terrible
little pocket of hope people
350
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,560
cling to when they do not want
the night to become what it is
351
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,560
becoming.
You watch, you wait, you look
352
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,200
again, you tell yourself maybe
the worst part has passed.
353
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,440
Maybe the coughing stops, maybe
the blood does not come back,
354
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,000
maybe the body settles down.
But then the symptoms changed
355
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,480
again, and this time they
changed in a way that left no
356
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,600
room for interpretation.
Around 2:00 in the morning,
357
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,760
Sophia says Para told her she
was having trouble breathing.
358
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:50,680
That is the moment the story
drops through the floor, because
359
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,160
stomach pain can still sound
explainable.
360
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,200
Even blood can send people into
denial for a few terrible
361
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,920
minutes while they try to
rationalize what they are
362
00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,520
seeing.
But breathing is different.
363
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,800
Breathing forces the truth into
the room.
364
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,680
Once somebody says they cannot
breathe, the entire night
365
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,160
changes shape.
Sophia called 911.
366
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,360
And while families are waiting
for emergency responders, time
367
00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,520
does something cruel.
It starts stretching.
368
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,640
Every second becomes louder.
Every sound becomes suspicious.
369
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,840
Every look at the body becomes a
search for whether things are
370
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:34,040
getting worse.
Sophia says that by the time EMS
371
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,560
arrived, Para's breathing was
shallow.
372
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,640
You could hear the labor in it,
hear the body straining, hear
373
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,600
the effort it was taking just to
pull in air and push it back
374
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,960
out.
This was not a woman calmly
375
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,600
sitting through discomfort
anymore.
376
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,760
This was a woman in visible
distress.
377
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,640
And before they left for the
hospital, there was another
378
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,800
detail Sophia says she cannot
forget.
379
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,120
Para said she needed to use the
bathroom again.
380
00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,560
And according to Sophia, there
was blood in her stool.
381
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,560
Think about the amount of alarm
inside that moment.
382
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:13,200
A woman with stomach pain, then
coughing blood, now trouble
383
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,800
breathing, now blood in her
stool.
384
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,800
The body was sending signal
after signal after signal.
385
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,800
Sophia says she told EMS what
she had seen.
386
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,080
She says she made sure they
knew.
387
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,840
And then she asked the question
that now hangs over everything
388
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,800
that followed.
Where are you taking her?
389
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,080
That is not a small question in
this story.
390
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,120
That is one of the biggest
questions in this entire case
391
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,240
because according to Sophia,
many of Para's doctors were at
392
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,800
Cooper University Hospital.
That was the hospital she
393
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,280
trusted more.
That was the place where her
394
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,600
daughter's medical history was
already known.
395
00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:56,360
That was where in Sophia's mind,
the full complexity of her
396
00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:58,760
daughter's condition would have
been better understood.
397
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:04,400
But according to Sophia, EMS
told them Cooper was too far and
398
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:09,560
recommended something closer.
Virtua Mount Holly, Mount Holly,
399
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:14,320
NJ, A local hospital.
A practical choice, maybe on
400
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,280
paper, a short distance choice,
a convenience choice.
401
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,960
And for Sophia now, the most
haunting choice in the entire
402
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,640
story.
Because what sounds practical in
403
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,800
the moment can become unbearable
later, when the outcome is
404
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,680
death.
Sophia says plainly that if her
405
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,880
daughter had gone to Cooper, she
believes Para would still be
406
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,160
here.
That belief is not a side note.
407
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,920
It is one of the central pillars
of her grief.
408
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,160
It is one of the central pillars
of her accusation.
409
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,240
Because once the decision is
made, everything that follows is
410
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,240
attached to it.
The ambulance does not just
411
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,080
carry her daughter to a
hospital, It carries her
412
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,880
daughter toward the place Sophia
now stands outside, accusing in
413
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,960
public.
That is why this part matters so
414
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,640
much.
The route matters, The
415
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,920
destination matters.
The hospital choice matters.
416
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:12,760
Sophia says Para was placed in
the ambulance and from there all
417
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,280
a mother can do is some
combination of watch, pray and
418
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,680
try not to let her own fear
swallow the room.
419
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,000
There's a special kind of
helplessness in following an
420
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,280
ambulance carrying your child.
You are moving physically, but
421
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,520
emotionally everything is
suspended.
422
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,640
You do not know how bad it is.
You do not know who is ready for
423
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,120
her when she arrives.
You do not know whether the
424
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:39,840
urgency you are feeling in your
own body is going to be matched
425
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,680
on the other side of those
emergency room doors.
426
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,480
And in a story like this, those
questions start burning before
427
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,800
the hospital has even fully
entered the frame.
428
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,200
Because remember, this is not a
family walking into a system
429
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,280
they fully trust.
This is a family already
430
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,320
carrying prior experiences,
already carrying caution,
431
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,800
already carrying the memory of
being made to feel like their
432
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,040
pain might be interpreted
through suspicion instead of
433
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,080
care.
That matters.
434
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,400
It matters because once they get
to Virtua Mount Holly, Sophia
435
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,920
says the feeling in the room
does not reassure her.
436
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,800
It does not calm her.
It does not tell her your
437
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,720
daughter is in the right hands
and people are moving with the
438
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:28,640
urgency this crisis requires.
It does the opposite and that is
439
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,760
where the story starts moving
from medical emergency into
440
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,040
allegation because according to
Sophia, when they arrived at
441
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,120
Virtua Mount Holly, she was not
brought straight back with her
442
00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:42,000
daughter.
She says she was told to wait in
443
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,480
the waiting room.
Just sit with that.
444
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,720
Your daughter is struggling to
breathe.
445
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,600
You have seen blood.
You have told responders what
446
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:52,920
happened.
You have followed her to the
447
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,160
hospital in terror, and now,
instead of being brought into a
448
00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:01,280
scene of clear urgency, you are
separated from her and left to
449
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,960
wait.
That is where the emotional
450
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,400
violence of hospital time
begins, because waiting in a
451
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:12,040
moment like that is not passive.
Waiting becomes its own kind of
452
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,760
torment.
Waiting means you do not know
453
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,040
who is watching her.
You do not know what decisions
454
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,960
are being made.
You do not know whether what you
455
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,000
saw in the house is being
understood with the seriousness
456
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,240
it deserves.
You do not know whether the
457
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,440
people responsible for your
daughter's life are moving fast
458
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,600
enough.
And when the crisis is
459
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:38,560
breathing, every minute starts
to feel like a theft, Sophia
460
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:39,720
says.
Time passed.
461
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,880
Not 5 frantic blur like minutes
time.
462
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,680
Enough time for the waiting room
to become a place of dread.
463
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,840
Enough time for fear to sharpen
into anger.
464
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,720
Enough time for a mother to feel
like the obvious emergency in
465
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,560
her body is somehow not being
matched by the institution she
466
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,400
has just turned her daughter
over to.
467
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,880
By the time she was finally
brought back, Sophia says it was
468
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,680
around 3:30 in the morning.
And what she says she saw when
469
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,080
she got back there changed
everything.
470
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:17,600
Para had soiled herself.
Her breathing was worse, and in
471
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,880
Sophia's eyes, the room did not
look like a room meeting a
472
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,200
respiratory emergency with
urgency.
473
00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:27,000
That is where the hospital
timeline begins to harden into
474
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,760
something much more serious.
Because from that point forward,
475
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,240
Sophia is no longer just
frightened.
476
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:38,280
She is observing, recording,
judging the room against what
477
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,720
she believes a room like that
should be doing.
478
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,440
And the deeper you go into what
she says happened next, the more
479
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,920
this story stops sounding like a
simple tragedy and starts
480
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,960
sounding like a mother building
the case for why she believes
481
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,920
Virtua Mount Holly failed her
daughter.
482
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,920
And according to Sophia, the
next thing she saw only made
483
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,720
that belief stronger.
Because what she says she walked
484
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,800
back into was not a room moving
with the speed of a respiratory
485
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,200
emergency.
It was a room that, in her eyes,
486
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,520
felt disconnected from the
danger unfolding right in front
487
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,960
of it.
Sophia says that when she was
488
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,880
finally brought back, Para had
soiled herself.
489
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,800
Her breathing was worse.
And that detail is not small.
490
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,600
It tells you how much time in
Sophia's mind had already passed
491
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,440
without the kind of intervention
she believed should have come
492
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,560
sooner.
It tells you the body was still
493
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,120
working, still struggling, still
trying to hold on, while the
494
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,960
room around it did not yet look
to her like a room in full
495
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,320
emergency mode.
She says there was oxygen in her
496
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:46,840
daughter's nose, but that was
it.
497
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,320
Not the kind of escalation she
expected, not the kind of
498
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,680
response she believed the moment
called for.
499
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,880
Just oxygen in the nose while
her daughter was still
500
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,880
struggling to breathe.
Sophia says no antibiotics had
501
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,640
been started.
And she says that mattered to
502
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,800
her because by that point, in
her mind, the picture was
503
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,840
already serious enough that
waiting felt dangerous.
504
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,480
Then she notices something else.
Blood that had been drawn from
505
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,280
her daughter was sitting on a
table.
506
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:22,240
Cultures had been taken.
But according to Sophia, it
507
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,960
looked like those samples were
just sitting there, not moving,
508
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,960
not producing action, not
setting off the level of urgency
509
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,560
she believed should have
followed.
510
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,080
Now, somebody listening to this
might hear those details and
511
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,560
think maybe that is just what
chaos looks like in a hospital
512
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,920
room.
Maybe that is just what a
513
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:43,400
frightened mother sees in the
middle of crisis.
514
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,960
But what makes Sophia's account
harder to wave away is the way
515
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,800
she remembers the sequence, the
order, the pacing, the feeling
516
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,040
that the room was moving around
smaller concerns while her
517
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,240
daughter's breathing was the
thing that should have been
518
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,760
commanding everything.
Sophia told our show's
519
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,800
investigator and producer JC
Reedberg that the doctor came in
520
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,440
talking about a CAT scan,
talking about kidney stones,
521
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,800
talking about kidney levels
being high.
522
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,640
And in Sophia's mind, all of
that may have been real, all of
523
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,200
that may have belonged somewhere
in the medical picture, but none
524
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,560
of it matched the emergency she
was staring at.
525
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,280
Her daughter was struggling to
breathe.
526
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,560
That was the emergency.
That was the thing she says the
527
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,080
room was not treating with the
urgency it deserved.
528
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,600
And this is where the story
begins tightening around one of
529
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,680
its most important questions.
Not whether Para was sick.
530
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,720
Everyone knew she was sick.
Not whether Para had underlying
531
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,280
conditions.
Everyone knew she did.
532
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,680
The question is whether the
people in that room recognized
533
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,400
how fast the situation was
turning and moved accordingly,
534
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,480
because, according to Sophia,
they did not.
535
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,080
Then the doctor ordered a CPAP
machine.
536
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,640
And for Sophia, this is one of
the sharpest edges in the entire
537
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,680
case, because she believes that
should have happened much
538
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:10,640
earlier.
Not later.
539
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,760
Not after the room had already
spent all that time moving too
540
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,000
slowly for her comfort.
Not after her daughter's
541
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,720
breathing had worsened.
Not after the waiting room.
542
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,000
Not after the oxygen in the
nose.
543
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,640
Not after the samples sitting
there earlier.
544
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,960
That is what Sophia believes
earlier.
545
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,000
And if you listen closely to the
way she tells it, you hear
546
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,080
something deeper than
disagreement.
547
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,120
You hear a mother constructing
the exact timeline of the moment
548
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,840
she believes the hospital began
losing her daughter.
549
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,760
She says Para had been left
fighting for air for hours.
550
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,600
That is the family's phrase,
left fighting for air.
551
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,080
And then, according to Sophia,
at around 5:55 in the morning,
552
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,760
the CPAP was finally put on that
time matters.
553
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,160
The timing matters, because
timing is the backbone of
554
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,320
Sophia's whole account.
The difference between moving
555
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,920
now and moving later, The
difference between urgent care
556
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,000
and delayed care.
The difference between a body
557
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,040
being met where it is and a body
falling further into crisis
558
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,920
while the room catches up too
slowly, Sophia says.
559
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:25,240
The mask goes on, and almost
immediately, something feels
560
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:27,920
wrong.
This is the moment that sits at
561
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,600
the center of everything, the
moment this entire story keeps
562
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,240
circling back to.
The mask goes on and Para starts
563
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,760
tugging at it, pulling at it,
trying to get it off, trying to
564
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,640
communicate something, trying to
tell the people around her that
565
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:48,120
this does not feel right, Trying
to tell her mother that this
566
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,400
does not feel right.
And then she says the words that
567
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,920
now live in Sophia's mind like a
permanent wound.
568
00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:01,720
Mom, this is way too much air
that Sophia says was the last
569
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,200
thing her daughter ever said to
her.
570
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,040
Just sit with that.
Not a goodbye, not a final
571
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,800
message of love, not some
cinematic last sentence that
572
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,120
ties the knight into a neat
emotional knot.
573
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,960
A distress signal, a complaint,
A plea.
574
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,080
A young woman telling her mother
that whatever is happening to
575
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,040
her body in that moment feels
wrong.
576
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,760
Mom, this is way too much air.
And from there, everything
577
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,679
begins to collapse.
Sophia says Para's heart rate
578
00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:36,520
had been up around 1:33.
Then it dropped, dropped all the
579
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,440
way down to 47.
And once that happens, the room
580
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,920
changes from dangerous to
catastrophic.
581
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,560
Now the body is crashing.
Now the room is moving.
582
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,480
Now the fear that had been
building becomes visible.
583
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,120
Now the thing Sophia had been
dreading is right there in front
584
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,960
of her.
She says she started screaming,
585
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,920
asking what happened to her
daughter's heart rate, asking
586
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,640
why they were not doing more,
asking why they were not acting
587
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,960
faster.
And in that moment, the question
588
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,080
stopped being clinical and
become primal.
589
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,560
What is happening to my child?
Why is this happening right now?
590
00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:17,960
Why does it feel like everybody
is still a beat behind what her
591
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,800
body is telling you?
Sophia says staff were shaking
592
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,680
para telling her to say
something to her mother.
593
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,240
And as the scene grows more
frantic, one question gets
594
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:30,400
louder and louder in Sophia's
mind.
595
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,680
Why is nobody starting CPR right
now?
596
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,920
That is an important line
because it tells you exactly
597
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,120
where Sophia believes the room
was failing.
598
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:44,800
Not just in treatment, in
timing, not just in decision
599
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,480
making, in urgency.
And then comes one of the
600
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:50,800
hardest images in the entire
story.
601
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,520
Sophia says that while Para was
trying to pull at the mask,
602
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:59,200
staff put restraints on her
arms, restrained her, held her
603
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,960
there.
And according to Sophia, this
604
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,040
was happening while her
daughter's body was already
605
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,040
collapsing.
That detail changes the
606
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,920
emotional temperature of the
whole scene, because now the
607
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,800
listener is not just imagining a
patient in crisis.
608
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,240
Now the listener is imagining a
woman in distress trying to
609
00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:21,160
signal that something feels
wrong and being restrained while
610
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:25,360
the room still has not, in
Sophia's view, fully met the
611
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,080
danger.
A woman trying to pull away, a
612
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,960
mother watching a room full of
professionals and still,
613
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,800
according to Sophia, not the
right urgency.
614
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:39,680
Then para coded.
And this is where hospital
615
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,000
language can hide the violence
of what actually happened if you
616
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,720
let it stay abstract.
Because coded can sound small if
617
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:50,360
you have never seen it.
It can sound like 1 clean word,
618
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,680
1 clinical phrase, one sterile
line in a chart.
619
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,600
But the way Sophia explained it
to JC Reedberg strips that
620
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,480
distance away.
When Sophia says para coded 4
621
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,400
times, what she means is this.
Her daughter's heart stopped.
622
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,360
They tried to bring her back.
Her heart stopped again.
623
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:15,080
They tried to bring her back
again, and again and again.
624
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,640
Four times.
That is what coded meant in that
625
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:23,520
room.
It meant crash, CPR, revive,
626
00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:31,080
crash, CPR, revive, crash again,
Hands moving, machines sounding,
627
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,440
panic rising.
A mother being forced to watch
628
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,360
her daughter move in and out of
death more than once.
629
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,000
That is not a term.
That is not a chart entry.
630
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,400
That is a horror sequence, and
because Sophia explains it that
631
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:49,080
way, the listener cannot hide
behind hospital language either.
632
00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:54,080
You have to face what it means.
A heart stopped and they fought
633
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,120
to bring it back.
Then it stopped again, and they
634
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:02,880
fought again, then again, then
again four times.
635
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,880
By now, the room is no longer a
place of treatment.
636
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,960
It is a place of collapse, a
place where hope and terror are
637
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:14,240
both happening at once, a place
where every successful revival
638
00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:17,520
only opens the possibility of
losing her again seconds later.
639
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,720
And somewhere inside all of
that, a mother is still trying
640
00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:25,920
to make sense of sequence, still
trying to track what was done,
641
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,800
what was not done, what came too
late, what should have happened
642
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:36,320
sooner, what the mask did, what
the restraints meant, why the
643
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,360
room did not feel right, why her
daughter said the air was too
644
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,760
much, why everything seemed to
break apart the moment that
645
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:48,000
machine was put on.
That is how trauma works, even
646
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,480
in catastrophe.
The mind starts building its own
647
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,280
evidence file.
It starts grabbing details,
648
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,200
because details are all you have
when the person you love is
649
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:57,760
slipping out of reach in front
of you.
650
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,920
Sophia says after this, they
took her out of the room.
651
00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:06,480
And that is its own kind of
violence, too, because now the
652
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,800
mother is no longer even in the
immediate scene of the fight.
653
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:15,960
Now she is outside it, waiting
again, listening again, trying
654
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,240
to hold herself together while
her daughter's life is in other
655
00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:23,640
people's hands.
She called her mother, called
656
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:27,520
her father, told them to come.
Those are the kinds of calls
657
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,280
people never forget making.
Those are the kinds of calls
658
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:34,280
that divide a life into before
and after.
659
00:39:35,240 --> 00:39:38,880
Come.
Now something is terribly wrong.
660
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,680
And somewhere in all of that
terror, there is still no clear
661
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,640
answer to the question at the
center of Sophia's grief.
662
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,240
How did it get this bad?
How did her daughter go from
663
00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:55,640
breathing in distress, to saying
the air was too much, to being
664
00:39:55,640 --> 00:40:00,120
restrained, to coding again and
again inside a hospital room
665
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:02,120
that was supposed to be saving
her?
666
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,320
That is the question this
section leaves hanging.
667
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,800
Because according to Sophia,
what came next only deepened her
668
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,880
belief that they had taken too
long, moved too slowly, and
669
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,280
failed to meet the crisis the
way they should have.
670
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,160
And once you hear what she says
happened after the codes, the
671
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:24,400
brain doctor, the swelling, the
death certificate, the picture
672
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,720
becomes even harder to ignore.
According to Sophia, after the
673
00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:30,480
codes, they took her out of the
room.
674
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:35,200
That matters because once you
are removed from the scene, you
675
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:40,960
are left with only fragments,
sound, delay, fear, whatever
676
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,120
somebody chooses to come back
and tell you.
677
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,360
And when the person you love has
just coded more than once, every
678
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:53,520
second outside that room becomes
its own kind of torture, Sophia
679
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,040
says she called her mother,
called her father, told them to
680
00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,360
come.
Those are not ordinary phone
681
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,760
calls.
Those are life splitting phone
682
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,320
calls.
Those are the calls people make
683
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,760
when they can feel the world
changing under their feet and
684
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,400
there is no language big enough
for what is happening.
685
00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:14,760
Then, according to Sophia, a
nurse came back and said they
686
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:18,080
had gotten Peres heart back and
we're taking her to ICU.
687
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:21,760
By that point, Sophia says they
had put a tube down her
688
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:26,000
daughter's throat.
And even in that moment, even in
689
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,960
the middle of terror, the story
was still shifting.
690
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:34,000
Because once a breathing crisis
becomes intubation, once a body
691
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,560
starts coding and being pulled
back, once ICU enters the
692
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,200
picture, the room is no longer
pretending this is minor.
693
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:45,080
Now everybody understands the
stakes.
694
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,000
Now the language changes.
Now the tone changes.
695
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:52,400
Now the body has crossed into a
different level of danger.
696
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,920
Then, Sophia says a doctor
introduced himself as the brain
697
00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:01,480
doctor, and she remembers that
because it frightened her, not
698
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,720
because the phrase was
technical, because the phrase
699
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:07,720
meant something.
It meant they were worried about
700
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:11,880
her daughter's brain, worried
about oxygen, worried about
701
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:15,360
time, worried about what had
happened while her body was
702
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:18,800
struggling to breathe and then
crashing in front of them.
703
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,680
He told her it was too soon to
know how much the brain had been
704
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:26,480
affected, too soon to say, too
soon to tell.
705
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,240
But when a doctor starts talking
to a mother about the brain
706
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:33,760
after her daughter has coded
repeatedly, there is nothing
707
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:38,000
small about that conversation.
It means the crisis has already
708
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,640
crossed another line.
It means the danger is no longer
709
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,320
just the lungs, no longer just
the heart.
710
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,520
Now the question is what the
lack of oxygen may have done
711
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:52,200
everywhere else.
Sophia says later they were told
712
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:54,080
there was swelling in her
daughter's brain.
713
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,400
And to Sophia, that detail did
not feel random.
714
00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:02,720
It felt like confirmation.
Confirmation of what she had
715
00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:06,720
already begun believing in real
time that they took too long.
716
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,360
Too long to respond the right
way, Too long to move with the
717
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:16,400
urgency the moment required.
Too long to start CPR, Too long
718
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:18,800
to save the oxygen her
daughter's brain needed.
719
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:23,480
That is how Sophia understands
the sequence, and once you hear
720
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,760
it laid out that way, you begin
to understand that her grief is
721
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,320
not shapeless.
It is not vague.
722
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:32,240
It is not just rage looking for
a target.
723
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:36,360
Her grief has a timeline, a
sequence, a structure.
724
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:41,080
In her mind, the order matters.
The delay matters.
725
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,440
The mask matters.
The restraints matter.
726
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,680
The drop in heart rate matters.
The swelling matters.
727
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:53,120
Every piece belongs to the same
story, and that story in
728
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,400
Sophia's telling has one
conclusion.
729
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,880
Her daughter was failed.
Now this is where people usually
730
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:02,000
start getting cautious in the
wrong way.
731
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:05,360
This is where people start
backing away from the center of
732
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,000
a mother's accusation because
the accusation is too serious to
733
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,400
sit with comfortably.
But Sophia is not uncertain
734
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,480
about what she believes.
She does not believe this was
735
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,600
simply lupus.
She does not believe this was
736
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,720
just nature taking its course.
She says the doctors told her
737
00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:25,680
pneumonia was part of what was
happening, and she does not
738
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,840
reject that.
But she rejects the idea that
739
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:33,400
pneumonia or lupus by themselves
explain everything she saw.
740
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,240
Because what she is describing
is not just illness.
741
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,760
It is delay.
It is a room she says was not
742
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:42,440
matching the crisis in front of
it.
743
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,720
It is a young woman saying the
air is too much and then
744
00:44:45,720 --> 00:44:47,800
crashing almost immediately
after.
745
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,800
It is a mother screaming for
people to move faster, it is a
746
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,800
daughter coding 4 times, and it
is a brain swelling after the
747
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:59,400
fact.
That is why Sophia does not hear
748
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,680
this story as simple medical
tragedy.
749
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,000
She hears it as fatal failure.
And there is something else that
750
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,520
makes Sophia's conviction harder
to dismiss.
751
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,840
She says Para's death
certificate lists shock and
752
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:14,080
acute respiratory failure with
hypoxia.
753
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,360
In her mind, that does not quiet
the questions.
754
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,760
It deepens them.
Those words matter.
755
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:24,280
Not because a death certificate
can tell you every emotional
756
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,520
truth of a room.
Not because a death certificate
757
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,600
can replay the exact second a
mother heard her daughter say
758
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:34,320
the air was too much.
But because when you place what
759
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,600
Sophia says is listed on that
death certificate beside what
760
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,240
she remembers from that room, it
does not settle the story.
761
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,560
It sharpens it.
It gives clinical language to
762
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:48,160
what she says she witnessed, a
body sent into crisis.
763
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:52,440
A body deprived of oxygen.
Not because a death certificate
764
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,880
can tell you every emotional
truth of a room.
765
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,720
Not because it can replay the
exact second a mother heard her
766
00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:00,400
daughter say the air was too
much.
767
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:05,000
But because when you place what
Sophia says is listed there
768
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:08,680
beside what she remembers from
that room, it does not settle
769
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:10,880
the story.
It sharpens it.
770
00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:14,240
It gives clinical language to
what she says she witnessed.
771
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:20,160
A body sent into crisis, a body
deprived of oxygen, a body
772
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:23,720
collapsing in ways that went far
beyond a routine downturn in a
773
00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:27,720
chronic illness.
And that is why Sophia does not
774
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:30,960
speak like a woman trying to
make peace with an unfortunate
775
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:33,400
ending.
She speaks like a woman who
776
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,360
believes something catastrophic
happened inside that room,
777
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,360
something preventable, something
that should never have reached
778
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:43,800
the point it reached.
And maybe that is why one line
779
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,760
from the death certificate
matters so much here, because
780
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:51,040
acute respiratory failure with
hypoxia is not abstract.
781
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,720
When you have just spent the
night hearing a mother describe
782
00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:57,280
a daughter fighting for air,
hearing about shallow breathing,
783
00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:02,480
hearing about a delayed CPAP,
hearing a final sentence about
784
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:06,640
too much air, hearing about a
heart rate collapsing, hearing
785
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:10,720
about repeated codes once those
details are already inside you,
786
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:14,120
the death certificate does not
read like a neutral form.
787
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,600
It reads like a colder version
of the same horror.
788
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,080
And Sophia carries something
else, too.
789
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:24,800
Not just grief, not just memory,
not just accusation.
790
00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:28,360
She carries the burden of
knowing enough to watch the room
791
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:29,920
differently than most people
would.
792
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,640
Because Sophia says she worked
as a nurse in Cooper Hospital's
793
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,080
emergency room for four years
before becoming disabled after
794
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:41,400
being hit by a bus.
That detail matters not because
795
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,280
it makes every conclusion she
draws automatically final.
796
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:47,480
It does not.
But because it means she is not
797
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:50,880
speaking as somebody totally
unfamiliar with hospital rhythm.
798
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:55,080
She is not speaking as somebody
who has never seen an emergency
799
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:58,440
room move fast.
She says she has seen everything
800
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:04,000
Gunshot wounds, overdoses,
assault victims, sick children.
801
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,120
Emergency after emergency after
emergency.
802
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:12,280
So when she talks about timing,
she is not inventing a standard
803
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:15,160
from nowhere.
When she talks about urgency,
804
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:17,640
she is not speaking in total
ignorance.
805
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,360
When she talks about what should
have happened sooner, she is
806
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:24,760
speaking as a woman who says she
has spent time inside that kind
807
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,640
of system.
A woman who knows what it feels
808
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:30,720
like when a room is moving
correctly and knows what it
809
00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:33,840
feels like when it is not.
That does not mean every
810
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:37,600
conclusion she makes is beyond
challenge, but it does mean her
811
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:39,760
testimony carries a different
kind of weight.
812
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:43,600
Because now the listener is not
just hearing a grieving mother
813
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:48,200
say something felt wrong.
The listener is hearing a
814
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:52,320
grieving mother with emergency
room experience say the sequence
815
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:56,680
was wrong, the response was
wrong, the urgency was wrong.
816
00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:00,520
That is a very different thing.
And Sophia does not stop there.
817
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,560
She says she knows something
about pneumonia personally
818
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,760
because she has had it herself.
She says when her oxygen
819
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:11,120
dropped, they moved quickly, put
her on breathing support,
820
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:15,160
immediately took her to ICU
right away, started IV
821
00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:18,920
antibiotics.
That comparison matters because
822
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:21,600
it shows how she is measuring
what happened to her daughter,
823
00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:26,800
not just against emotion,
against experience, against what
824
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:30,600
she says she has seen before,
against what she says happened
825
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,600
when she herself was in
distress.
826
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:35,920
And that is why she cannot
accept the pace of what happened
827
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:39,440
to Para.
In her mind, the room had enough
828
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:41,840
information.
They knew her daughter had
829
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:45,320
serious underlying issues.
They knew she had lupus
830
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:48,360
complications.
They knew she had a weak heart.
831
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:50,600
They knew she had fluid
problems.
832
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:52,920
They knew she was medically
fragile.
833
00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:57,640
And still, in Sophia's telling,
they did not treat her like the
834
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,600
critical patient she was.
That is the heart of her claim,
835
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:06,600
not just that Para died, but
that Para was not recognized,
836
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:10,400
prioritized, and treated with
the seriousness her condition
837
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:13,640
demanded.
And once you understand that,
838
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,320
you also understand why Sophia's
public grief sounds the way it
839
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:21,800
does, why it does not sound
quiet, why it does not sound
840
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:26,000
resigned, why it does not sound
like somebody gently mourning a
841
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,880
loss.
She is already accepted as fate
842
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,360
because what she is describing
is not fate.
843
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:36,880
It is a room she believes kept
missing the moment, a room she
844
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:39,960
believes kept arriving late to
the emergency right in front of
845
00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:42,360
it.
A room she believes let her
846
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:45,320
daughter fight too long before
truly meeting the crisis.
847
00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:48,720
That is what makes this story so
difficult to hear.
848
00:50:49,240 --> 00:50:52,200
And that is also what begins
connecting Para's case to
849
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:54,800
something much larger than one
family's pain.
850
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,240
Because once you move beyond the
room itself, once you widen the
851
00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:03,120
frame beyond Sophia's testimony,
you begin to see that her fear
852
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:07,600
did not emerge in empty space.
It landed inside a hospital that
853
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:09,400
already carried public
complaints.
854
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:14,240
Complaints about communication,
Complaints about bedside manner,
855
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,960
complaints about weights.
Complaints about how patients
856
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:20,240
say they were treated when they
were most vulnerable.
857
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:24,200
And when those public complaints
meet a story like this, the
858
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,920
bigger question becomes
impossible to ignore.
859
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:29,920
Was Para failed inside a
hospital?
860
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:31,960
Too many people already did not
trust.
861
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:35,440
When you start pulling back from
Sophia's account of that
862
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:38,400
hospital room and looking at
Virtua Mount Holly in public,
863
00:51:38,760 --> 00:51:42,760
something else comes into focus.
The distrust did not begin with
864
00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:46,120
her.
That matters because one
865
00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:49,760
family's testimony is one thing.
A wider public pattern is
866
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,360
something else, and when you
begin reading what patients,
867
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:56,920
families and workers have said
about Virtua, Mount Holly and
868
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,720
the larger Virtua Network, you
start hearing certain words
869
00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:05,520
repeat themselves, not always in
the same order, not always with
870
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:08,880
the same details, but often with
the same feeling.
871
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:13,800
Long waits, poor communication,
dismissive treatment, rude
872
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:18,000
bedside manner, a sense of being
ignored while something serious
873
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:21,920
is happening, a sense that the
room is not moving with the
874
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:25,440
urgency the body is demanding.
Now.
875
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:28,080
Public reviews are not medical
charts.
876
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:31,400
They are not verdicts.
They are not proof of what
877
00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:34,680
happened to PARA, and it would
be dishonest to pretend they
878
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:37,400
are.
Hospitals, like every large
879
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:41,080
institution, have people who
leave satisfied and people who
880
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:44,200
leave angry.
That is true almost everywhere.
881
00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:47,920
But what matters in a case like
this is not whether every review
882
00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:50,440
is bad.
It is whether the same
883
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:53,920
complaints keep surfacing often
enough to form a pattern people
884
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:57,080
can recognize.
And around Virtua Mount Holly,
885
00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:01,120
those complaints do repeat.
People describe emergency room
886
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:04,720
waits that feel endless.
They describe asking for updates
887
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:07,840
and getting very little.
They describe staff who, in
888
00:53:07,840 --> 00:53:11,480
their view, came off cold,
impatient or dismissive.
889
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:15,200
They describe care that felt
inconsistent from one stay to
890
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:18,720
the next, from one shift to the
next, from one nurse to the
891
00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:21,480
next.
They describe the feeling that
892
00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:25,560
if you are not loud enough,
nobody moves, and if you are too
893
00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:30,280
loud, you become a problem.
That language should sound
894
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:34,520
familiar by now, because that is
not far from the fear Sophia
895
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:36,960
says her daughter already
carried into hospitals.
896
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:42,000
The fear of not being believed.
The fear of being looked at
897
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:45,640
before being listened to.
The fear of being judged before
898
00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:48,800
being treated.
The fear that the staff in front
899
00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:53,760
of you may be evaluating your
attitude, your tone, your pain,
900
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:58,880
your body, your worth before
they evaluate the crisis itself.
901
00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:02,680
And again, that does not prove
Para's case.
902
00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:07,560
But it does matter, because it
tells you Sophia's distrust did
903
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:11,080
not rise in isolation.
It tells you that when she says
904
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:14,880
what she says about Virtua Mount
Holly, her words are landing in
905
00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:18,800
a place already burdened by
public frustration, already
906
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:22,480
burdened by stories of
communication breakdown, already
907
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,520
burdened by patients who say
they left feeling unseen.
908
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:29,720
And the story gets heavier when
you move beyond public reviews
909
00:54:29,720 --> 00:54:32,880
and into formal scrutiny,
because the criticism
910
00:54:32,880 --> 00:54:36,360
surrounding Virtua is not
limited to online complaints.
911
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:41,360
In September of 2024, New
Jersey's attorney general filed
912
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:44,960
A complaint against Virtua
Health and hospitals it operates
913
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:48,440
in Mount Holly, Camden and
Voorhees, alleging
914
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:51,880
discriminatory treatment of
pregnant patients, including
915
00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:54,000
drug testing, without informed
consent.
916
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,240
Let that sit there for a second.
Not a rumor.
917
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:02,520
Not a comment section theory.
Not a random TikTok allegation.
918
00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,280
A formal complaint from the
state of New Jersey alleging
919
00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,520
discrimination and failures
around informed consent.
920
00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:13,000
That does not mean Para's case
is the same case.
921
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:15,920
It does not.
But it does mean the network
922
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,240
that runs Virtua Mount Holly has
already faced serious public
923
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:23,240
allegations involving unequal
treatment, vulnerable patients,
924
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:25,960
and the question of whether
people in its care were
925
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:28,760
respected with full dignity and
full information.
926
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:33,720
And in stories like this, that
matters because when a mother
927
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:37,560
says my daughter was not treated
right in that hospital and the
928
00:55:37,560 --> 00:55:40,680
larger network has already faced
allegations tied to
929
00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:45,280
discrimination and informed
consent, her accusation no
930
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:48,240
longer sounds like it is
floating alone in empty air.
931
00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:53,280
Then there is the 2020 union
complaint involving Virtua Mount
932
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:56,560
Holly itself, where nurses
allege that potentially
933
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:59,840
substandard and possibly
counterfeit respirator masks
934
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:02,280
were distributed during the
COVID crisis.
935
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:07,040
Virtua denied that allegation.
That denial matters too.
936
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,840
But so does the fact that the
complaint existed at all.
937
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:14,720
Because what that moment reveals
is not just disagreement over
938
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:17,560
masks.
It reveals an institution
939
00:56:17,560 --> 00:56:22,040
already sitting inside public
conflict over safety, trust and
940
00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:24,920
whether the people working and
receiving care inside that
941
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:27,480
building were being protected
the way they should have been.
942
00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:31,200
And when you layer those things
together, the picture becomes
943
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:34,160
more complicated than one night
and one room.
944
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:38,600
You begin to see a hospital and
a network that have already
945
00:56:38,600 --> 00:56:42,120
faced public pressure over the
very things families worry about
946
00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:44,640
most when they hand over
somebody they love.
947
00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:51,360
Safety, communication, consent,
urgency, care, respect.
948
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:55,480
Even Virtua's own public patient
rights language matters here
949
00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:58,760
because on paper, the promises
are clear.
950
00:56:59,440 --> 00:57:02,400
Patients are supposed to receive
care without discrimination.
951
00:57:02,960 --> 00:57:05,400
They are supposed to receive
explanations they can
952
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:08,240
understand.
They are supposed to have their
953
00:57:08,240 --> 00:57:11,480
questions answered.
They are supposed to be treated
954
00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:14,520
with dignity.
They are supposed to have a path
955
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:16,440
to grievance if something goes
wrong.
956
00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:21,000
That is what institutions say
when they tell the public they
957
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:24,040
are trustworthy.
That is the language hospitals
958
00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:27,760
use when they ask families to
put their lives in their hands.
959
00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:32,040
And that is exactly why stories
like Sophia's land so hard.
960
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:35,800
Because the pain is not only in
what she says happened.
961
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:39,600
The pain is in the distance
between what a hospital promises
962
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:42,320
and what a mother says she
watched with her own eyes.
963
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:47,160
A daughter fighting for air.
A room moving too slowly.
964
00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:52,240
A mask that felt wrong.
Restraints, A crashing heart
965
00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:57,760
rate, repeated codes, a brain
swelling later, and a mother now
966
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:01,680
standing outside the building
saying in public that something
967
00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:04,160
happened in there that should
never have happened.
968
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:07,680
This is where the story gets
bigger than Virtua Mount Holly.
969
00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:11,680
Because once you step back far
enough, you are no longer just
970
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:13,720
asking what kind of hospital
this is.
971
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,400
You are asking what kind of
country teaches black families
972
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:21,080
to walk into medical spaces
already braced for harm?
973
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:25,360
What kind of history teaches a
daughter to fear hospitals
974
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:29,400
before she is even in crisis?
What kind of accumulated
975
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:32,400
experience makes a grieving
mother's accusation sound
976
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:35,520
plausible to so many people the
moment they hear it?
977
00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:40,000
Because for black families,
medical mistrust did not begin
978
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:43,120
on social media.
It did not begin with Sophia's
979
00:58:43,120 --> 00:58:45,520
video.
It did not begin with para.
980
00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:48,280
It has roots.
It has memory.
981
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:52,680
It has history.
It lives in stories of pain
982
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:58,240
minimized, symptoms dismissed,
questions brushed off, consent
983
00:58:58,240 --> 00:59:03,560
blurred, bodies studied, used,
doubted and mishandled.
984
00:59:04,680 --> 00:59:08,040
It lives in the everyday
language Black people pass down
985
00:59:08,040 --> 00:59:12,880
to each other about doctors,
nurses, emergency rooms, and the
986
00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:16,480
difference between what care is
supposed to feel like and what
987
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:18,880
it too often feels like in
reality.
988
00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:23,320
That is why this story cannot be
reduced to one family simply
989
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:27,320
struggling to accept loss.
Because one of the ugliest
990
00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:30,440
things about racial inequality
in medicine is that it trains
991
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:33,040
people to question whether help
will come in time.
992
00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:36,640
It trains people to wonder
whether their pain will be taken
993
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:39,680
seriously.
It trains people to look at
994
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:43,160
delay and ask whether delay
would have looked different in
995
00:59:43,160 --> 00:59:46,080
another body.
That is the question humming
996
00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:51,000
underneath stories like this,
not always spoken directly, but
997
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:54,000
present.
Would the room have moved faster
998
00:59:54,000 --> 00:59:56,800
for someone else?
Would the urgency have looked
999
00:59:56,800 --> 01:00:00,080
different for someone else?
Would the bedside tone have been
1000
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:03,280
different for someone else?
Would the assumptions have been
1001
01:00:03,280 --> 01:00:07,080
different for someone else?
Those questions are not born
1002
01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:10,040
from nowhere.
They are born from repetition,
1003
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:14,920
born from disparity, born from
too many families carrying too
1004
01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:18,680
many versions of the same wound.
And that is where Sophia's
1005
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:21,080
testimony becomes more than
personal grief.
1006
01:00:21,720 --> 01:00:24,360
Because once she starts talking
about how Black people are
1007
01:00:24,360 --> 01:00:27,680
treated in hospitals, once she
starts talking about how her
1008
01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:30,840
daughter had been made to feel
like staff thought she was there
1009
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:34,240
for pain medicine, once she
starts talking about needing to
1010
01:00:34,240 --> 01:00:37,480
be present, to watch, to
intervene, to make sure her
1011
01:00:37,480 --> 01:00:40,920
daughter was not dismissed, she
is no longer speaking only as
1012
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:44,000
Para's mother.
She is speaking from a community
1013
01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:49,120
memory, a Black memory, a memory
that says the hospital is not
1014
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:51,240
always experienced as a
sanctuary.
1015
01:00:51,920 --> 01:00:54,960
Sometimes it is experienced as a
place where you may have to
1016
01:00:54,960 --> 01:00:57,560
advocate harder to be seen as
fully human.
1017
01:00:58,640 --> 01:01:01,800
Sometimes it is experienced as a
place where your fear must
1018
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:05,400
arrive already armed.
And maybe that is why Sophia's
1019
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:08,640
video outside Virtua Mount Holly
struck such a nerve.
1020
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:12,960
Because after it was posted, the
response was not only sympathy,
1021
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:16,800
it was recognition.
People hearing her and saying, I
1022
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:19,640
know why you're saying that.
I know why you don't trust what
1023
01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:23,040
happened in there.
I know why you're standing
1024
01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:26,040
outside that building instead of
quietly grieving at home.
1025
01:01:26,840 --> 01:01:29,760
Some people even began sharing
their own allegations about
1026
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:33,640
neglect and improper care.
We have not independently
1027
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:37,200
verified every one of those
accounts, but their existence
1028
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,760
still means something.
It means Sophia's accusation did
1029
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:44,280
not land in a vacuum.
It landed in a community already
1030
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:47,400
prepared to believe that
hospital neglect, indifference,
1031
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:50,640
or delay could be deadly.
And that is what makes this
1032
01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:54,040
story so heavy.
Because when public complaints,
1033
01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:57,520
public scrutiny, personal
testimony, and black medical
1034
01:01:57,520 --> 01:02:01,320
mistrust all begin touching the
same case, the burden on the
1035
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:04,040
institution grows.
The questions grow.
1036
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:08,120
The stakes grow.
The silence grows louder, and
1037
01:02:08,120 --> 01:02:10,640
that silence does not answer
Sophia's questions.
1038
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:15,120
It leaves them where they
already were, sharp, unsettled,
1039
01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:19,480
unresolved.
What happened in that room?
1040
01:02:20,040 --> 01:02:23,400
Why did help in Sophia's telling
feel late?
1041
01:02:24,040 --> 01:02:26,960
Why did the room feel out of
sync with the crisis?
1042
01:02:27,680 --> 01:02:29,960
Why did her daughter say the air
was too much?
1043
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:33,840
Why was she restrained?
Why did her heart keep stopping?
1044
01:02:34,440 --> 01:02:37,640
Why did the death certificate
later point to shock and acute
1045
01:02:37,640 --> 01:02:39,840
respiratory failure with
hypoxia?
1046
01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:43,880
And why, when all of that is
placed against the public record
1047
01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:47,600
surrounding Virtua Mount Holly
and the larger Virtua Network,
1048
01:02:48,080 --> 01:02:51,800
does this story become harder,
not easier, to dismiss?
1049
01:02:53,240 --> 01:02:56,640
Because in the end, that is what
deep dives like this are for.
1050
01:02:57,160 --> 01:03:01,080
Not to turn grief into gossip.
Not to turn pain into spectacle,
1051
01:03:01,640 --> 01:03:05,440
but to ask with seriousness and
without flinching, whether the
1052
01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:08,400
system did what it was supposed
to do when a black woman's life
1053
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:11,880
depended on it.
And in Sophia Shannon's eyes,
1054
01:03:12,040 --> 01:03:14,680
the answer to that question is
devastatingly clear.
1055
01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:18,360
No.
And once you reach that point,
1056
01:03:18,600 --> 01:03:21,920
once you have sat with Sophia's
testimony, the hospital
1057
01:03:21,920 --> 01:03:26,680
timeline, the public complaints,
the wider scrutiny around Virtua
1058
01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:31,040
and the larger truth of Black
medical mistrust, the story
1059
01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:33,760
stops being only about what
happened in one room.
1060
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:38,600
It becomes about what was taken.
Because at the center of all of
1061
01:03:38,600 --> 01:03:43,280
this, beyond the hospital,
beyond the allegations, beyond
1062
01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:46,840
the public anger, beyond the
records and the reviews and the
1063
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:50,560
legal questions, is a child,
Ava.
1064
01:03:51,400 --> 01:03:54,480
And every time Sophia talks
about her daughter, Ava is
1065
01:03:54,480 --> 01:03:57,480
there.
Not in the background, not as an
1066
01:03:57,480 --> 01:04:01,560
emotional add on at the center.
That matters.
1067
01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:05,160
Because Para was not just loved
in the abstract.
1068
01:04:05,840 --> 01:04:08,480
She was needed.
She was needed in the daily way.
1069
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:11,280
Mothers are needed in the
ordinary way.
1070
01:04:11,280 --> 01:04:14,560
Mothers are needed in the little
ways that never make it into
1071
01:04:14,560 --> 01:04:18,320
official records.
The rides, the conversations,
1072
01:04:18,640 --> 01:04:24,280
the time, the gifts, the
attention, the steady love, the
1073
01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:27,000
feeling a daughter gets when her
mother is still here and still
1074
01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:31,000
choosing her every day.
Sophia says Para made sure Ava
1075
01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:34,960
had what she needed and not just
materially, emotionally,
1076
01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:39,600
creatively, personally.
If Ava liked art, Para got her
1077
01:04:39,600 --> 01:04:43,320
art supplies.
If Ava needed time, Para made
1078
01:04:43,320 --> 01:04:45,720
time.
She took her to the park.
1079
01:04:46,040 --> 01:04:49,000
She bought her little things,
she fed her imagination.
1080
01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:53,000
She loved her on purpose.
And that is the part hospital
1081
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:56,960
language can never fully hold.
A chart can say respiratory
1082
01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:01,760
failure, a record can say
cardiac arrest, a certificate
1083
01:05:01,760 --> 01:05:04,480
can say shock and acute
respiratory failure with
1084
01:05:04,480 --> 01:05:07,160
hypoxia.
But none of that language can
1085
01:05:07,160 --> 01:05:09,800
fully contain what it means for
a little girl to lose her
1086
01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:12,600
mother.
None of that language can fully
1087
01:05:12,600 --> 01:05:16,240
hold what it means for a family
to lose 1 of the people who gave
1088
01:05:16,240 --> 01:05:19,160
it rhythm.
None of that language can fully
1089
01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:22,560
hold what it means for Sophia
Shannon to now carry not only
1090
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:26,080
grief, but a fixed and burning
belief that her daughter should
1091
01:05:26,080 --> 01:05:29,560
still be here.
Because once a mother says, I
1092
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:32,880
watched my daughter fight for
air, you cannot reduce that to
1093
01:05:32,880 --> 01:05:36,760
paperwork.
Once a mother says, I watched
1094
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:40,760
the room move too slowly, you
cannot reduce that to paperwork.
1095
01:05:41,560 --> 01:05:45,640
Once a mother says, my daughter
told me this is way too much air
1096
01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:48,320
and that was the last thing she
ever said to me.
1097
01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:51,080
You cannot reduce that to
paperwork.
1098
01:05:51,640 --> 01:05:54,520
And once a mother says, I
believe my child was failed in
1099
01:05:54,520 --> 01:05:58,360
that hospital, you cannot ask
the public to hear that and feel
1100
01:05:58,360 --> 01:06:00,960
nothing.
So what do we do with a story
1101
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:04,360
like this?
What do we do when a black
1102
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:07,400
mother stands outside a hospital
and says something the
1103
01:06:07,400 --> 01:06:10,520
institution itself does not want
to attach to its name?
1104
01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:14,520
What do we do when the public
record around that hospital
1105
01:06:14,840 --> 01:06:17,760
already contains years of
complaints about delays,
1106
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:20,840
communication, treatment, and
trust?
1107
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:25,080
What do we do when a direct
interview with that mother gives
1108
01:06:25,080 --> 01:06:29,880
us a timeline that is not vague,
not shapeless, not confused, but
1109
01:06:29,880 --> 01:06:33,240
painfully specific?
What do we do when the death
1110
01:06:33,240 --> 01:06:36,840
certificate deepens rather than
quiets the questions?
1111
01:06:37,960 --> 01:06:40,960
What do we do when a little girl
is left growing up without the
1112
01:06:40,960 --> 01:06:43,960
mother who was supposed to be
here first?
1113
01:06:44,200 --> 01:06:46,440
We listen.
Really listen.
1114
01:06:47,080 --> 01:06:51,520
Not politely, not passively, not
the kind of listening that lets
1115
01:06:51,520 --> 01:06:55,200
a story wash over us for a day
and disappear by the next.
1116
01:06:56,080 --> 01:06:59,560
We listen in a way that
preserves, in a way that
1117
01:06:59,560 --> 01:07:03,960
records, in a way that refuses
to let the story shrink back
1118
01:07:03,960 --> 01:07:07,480
into a quiet obituary and be
swallowed by silence.
1119
01:07:08,160 --> 01:07:10,200
Because that is what happens too
often.
1120
01:07:10,880 --> 01:07:14,120
A black woman dies.
A family screams into the
1121
01:07:14,120 --> 01:07:16,160
Internet.
A few people share it.
1122
01:07:16,760 --> 01:07:20,560
A few people say how sad it is.
And then the system waits.
1123
01:07:21,160 --> 01:07:23,680
Waits for fatigue, Waits for
distraction.
1124
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:27,320
Waits for people to move on,
waits for grief to become
1125
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:30,600
private again.
Sophia Shannon is refusing that.
1126
01:07:31,320 --> 01:07:35,240
She is refusing to go quiet.
And by telling this story, we
1127
01:07:35,240 --> 01:07:38,760
are refusing it too.
Sophia says she wants people to
1128
01:07:38,760 --> 01:07:43,560
remember Para as a fighter.
That is the word fighter.
1129
01:07:44,200 --> 01:07:47,880
A woman who lived with lupus.
A woman recovering from
1130
01:07:47,880 --> 01:07:51,560
amputation.
A woman trying to get stronger.
1131
01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:55,880
A woman who loved to cook.
A woman who loved to dance.
1132
01:07:56,680 --> 01:07:59,720
A woman who loved hard.
A woman who loved her daughter.
1133
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:02,120
A woman who still wanted to be
here.
1134
01:08:02,760 --> 01:08:07,400
That is who Perdisha Para
Champion was affectionately
1135
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:09,800
known by her parents and friends
as Para.
1136
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:13,240
And that is why this story hurts
the way it does.
1137
01:08:14,160 --> 01:08:17,399
Not simply because she died, but
because, according to her
1138
01:08:17,399 --> 01:08:21,960
mother, she died while still
trying, still speaking, still
1139
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:26,520
communicating, still resisting,
still telling the people around
1140
01:08:26,520 --> 01:08:29,960
her that something was wrong,
still trying to remain in her
1141
01:08:29,960 --> 01:08:33,359
own life.
That is what makes this story
1142
01:08:33,359 --> 01:08:37,080
unbearable, and that is what
makes it impossible to file away
1143
01:08:37,080 --> 01:08:41,319
neatly under inevitable loss.
This is why Sophia wants the
1144
01:08:41,319 --> 01:08:44,479
world to hear what happened.
This is why she came back to
1145
01:08:44,479 --> 01:08:47,399
Virtua Mount Holly and said what
she said in front of that
1146
01:08:47,399 --> 01:08:50,240
building.
This is why she spoke to our
1147
01:08:50,240 --> 01:08:53,000
investigator and producer JC
Reedberg.
1148
01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:56,439
This is why she wants pressure.
This is why she wants
1149
01:08:56,439 --> 01:08:59,200
accountability.
Because in her mind, this was
1150
01:08:59,200 --> 01:09:02,080
not just tragedy.
This was failure.
1151
01:09:02,520 --> 01:09:05,720
This was preventable.
This was a daughter being failed
1152
01:09:05,720 --> 01:09:08,840
inside the very place that was
supposed to keep her alive.
1153
01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:14,399
So tonight, remember her name,
Perdisha Para Champion,
1154
01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:18,120
affectionately known by her
parents and friends as Para.
1155
01:09:19,040 --> 01:09:21,760
Remember the mother who says she
watched her daughter fight for
1156
01:09:21,760 --> 01:09:23,920
breath?
Remember the sentence that will
1157
01:09:23,920 --> 01:09:29,000
not leave that room?
Mom, this is way too much air.
1158
01:09:29,359 --> 01:09:31,680
Remember what coded meant in
this story.
1159
01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:35,319
Her heart stopped, They brought
her back.
1160
01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:39,439
It stopped again.
They brought her back again,
1161
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:46,160
again and again, four times.
Remember that her mother says
1162
01:09:46,160 --> 01:09:49,359
she was left fighting for air.
Remember that the death
1163
01:09:49,359 --> 01:09:52,640
certificate points to shock and
acute respiratory failure with
1164
01:09:52,640 --> 01:09:55,760
hypoxia.
Remember that public complaints
1165
01:09:55,760 --> 01:10:00,160
surrounding Virtua Mount Holly
have described long waits, poor
1166
01:10:00,160 --> 01:10:04,520
communication, dismissive
treatment and care that too
1167
01:10:04,520 --> 01:10:09,200
often feels inconsistent.
Remember that the larger Virtua
1168
01:10:09,200 --> 01:10:12,800
network has already faced public
scrutiny over discrimination,
1169
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:16,920
consent and safety.
And remember that somewhere,
1170
01:10:16,920 --> 01:10:21,440
right now, a little girl named
Ava is growing up in the absence
1171
01:10:21,440 --> 01:10:23,280
of the mother who was supposed
to be here.
1172
01:10:24,120 --> 01:10:27,680
This story is not over.
The legal process is not over,
1173
01:10:28,280 --> 01:10:32,200
the questions are not over, the
grief is not over, and the
1174
01:10:32,200 --> 01:10:35,960
accountability in Sophia
Shannon's eyes has not even
1175
01:10:35,960 --> 01:10:38,880
begun.
So let me say this as clearly as
1176
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:42,440
I can.
If you are a Black Blogger, a
1177
01:10:42,440 --> 01:10:46,880
Black podcaster, a black
journalist, a Black creator, a
1178
01:10:46,880 --> 01:10:50,680
black platform, or simply a
human being who still believes
1179
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:54,640
justice should mean something,
support the family of Perdisha
1180
01:10:54,640 --> 01:10:57,640
Para Champion.
Share this story.
1181
01:10:57,960 --> 01:11:01,760
Share this episode.
Write about Para Talk about Para
1182
01:11:02,360 --> 01:11:06,560
Post her pictures, say her name.
Tell people what Sophia says
1183
01:11:06,560 --> 01:11:10,240
happened to her daughter.
And when you do, use the hashtag
1184
01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:15,080
Justice for Para.
Justice for para on TikTok.
1185
01:11:15,560 --> 01:11:20,160
Justice for para on Instagram.
Justice for para on YouTube.
1186
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:25,160
Justice for para on Facebook.
Justice for para on Threads,
1187
01:11:25,560 --> 01:11:31,240
Justice for para on X, Justice
for para in blogs, Justice for
1188
01:11:31,240 --> 01:11:36,640
para in podcasts, Justice for
para in headlines, Justice for
1189
01:11:36,640 --> 01:11:39,440
para anywhere.
Human beings still have the
1190
01:11:39,440 --> 01:11:43,120
courage to care because this
beautiful young woman is gone
1191
01:11:43,120 --> 01:11:46,720
too soon and her family should
not have to carry this story
1192
01:11:46,720 --> 01:11:50,160
alone.
If you support justice, support
1193
01:11:50,160 --> 01:11:53,120
this family.
If you believe black women
1194
01:11:53,120 --> 01:11:55,840
deserve to be heard, support
this family.
1195
01:11:56,520 --> 01:11:59,560
If you believe Ava deserves
answers about what happened to
1196
01:11:59,560 --> 01:12:03,360
her mother, support this family.
Share this story.
1197
01:12:04,120 --> 01:12:08,320
Share any story about Para and
make sure the world sees the
1198
01:12:08,320 --> 01:12:13,480
words justice for Para.
If this episode moved something
1199
01:12:13,480 --> 01:12:16,680
in you, please share it.
Leave a five star review
1200
01:12:16,680 --> 01:12:20,240
wherever you listen.
Every review helps the algorithm
1201
01:12:20,240 --> 01:12:22,040
push these stories to more
people.
1202
01:12:22,680 --> 01:12:25,920
More reviews mean more families
get heard, more stories get
1203
01:12:25,920 --> 01:12:29,320
told, and more black women stop
being treated like footnotes in
1204
01:12:29,320 --> 01:12:31,560
cases that should have begun
with their names.
1205
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:36,560
This is no tears for black
girls, the cases they ignored.
1206
01:12:37,240 --> 01:12:43,240
I am Samantha Paul, Stay loved,
stay safe, and remember whenever
1207
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:47,040
you are trapped in a World of
Darkness, never allow fear to
1208
01:12:47,040 --> 01:12:50,440
overwhelm you.
Believe in your inner spirit and
1209
01:12:50,440 --> 01:12:52,880
remind yourself of God's first
words.
1210
01:12:53,320 --> 01:12:54,240
Let there be light.