Lenox Hill Hospital Attempts To Clear Up Beyonce Birth Rumors

Word on the street is that Beyonce and Jay-Z dished out a whopping $1.3 million to rent out an entire wing of Lenox Hill Hospital’s maternity ward for the birth of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. My initial thought was, Hey, whatever floats your boat. Is it obnoxious? Yes. Do I care? No. That is, until I heard that other parents were being denied access to their own NICU babies because of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s private security guards.

These headset-clad dudes allegedly turned away Neil Coulon, for instance, who was barred from seeing his newborn twins “just because they wanted to use the hallway.” And now another father, Bronx-based Edgar Ramirez, told the NY Daily News he couldn’t see his newborn daughter for three hours because of the “ridiculous” security that had him detained in a waiting room. (“I felt like I was in prison,” he said.)

Lenox Hill Hospital where, incidentally, other celebs like Tina Fey have reportedly given birth in a more subtle fashion has issued a statement denying the claims. Executive director Frank Danza said:

“Lenox Hill Hospital and its staff were delighted to welcome the Carter family for the birth of their firstborn on Saturday evening, but we are troubled by the misinformation being circulated in some news media reports. The suggestion that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent an entire maternity floor is simply not true. The family is housed in an executive suite at the hospital and is being billed the standard rate for those accommodations.  Our executive suites are available for any patient, including the food service and amenities provided to the Carter family.

“The family does have its own security detail on site. However, the hospital has been and continues to be in control of managing all security at the facility. We have made every effort to ensure minimal disruption to other families experiencing the births of their own children over the past three days. No security plan that we or the Carters’ security team put in place would have prevented or delayed families from gaining access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and to date, no families have complained to the hospital about being denied access to the NICU.

“Lenox Hill Hospital takes patient privacy and safety very seriously. And while we congratulate the Carter family on the birth of their child, we value the loyalty of ALL of our patients and always strive to ensure a positive experience, knowing that the birth of a child is a wonderful moment producing memories that last a lifetime.”

So what really happened has yet to be seen. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the families affected decide to press charges. Otherwise, it’s really just Coulon and Ramirez’s word against Danza’s. Either way, peace has been restored; Beyonce, Jay-Z, baby Blue and the entire entourage have left the grounds as of 1:30 this morning. And, not to worry! They left in a “precise, military-like” fashion, in case you were wondering…