For Brandi Brege, last week’s 7 Eyewitness News I-Team story about Lockport doctor Mohamed Khalaf was all too familiar.
Brege was a patient of Khalaf's in Medina seven years ago. She said when she gave birth to her daughter, Khalaf broke her water at 10 a.m. and then disappeared for nearly the entire day.
“It's terrifying...I could feel the baby coming...I was in pain for hours just waiting to deliver,” Brege said. “Oh...oh my God it was so terrible, it was the worst pain ever...It felt like my skin was ripping open...and it was.”
Brege's induction was planned weeks in advance -- and she said Khalaf's disappearance from Eastern Niagara Hospital in Newfane left the nurses in disbelief.
“They were so mad,” Brege said of the nurses. “They were very upset with him leaving and not returning. He didn't return for -- what was it, 8 hours? -- he was gone for.”
She said her pain medication had long run out by the time Khalaf -- who, through his attorney, did not respond to multiple requests for comment -- returned to the hospital around 6 p.m. and made a shocking statement.
“He was upset that he had gotten called back into the hospital, and he said I wasn't ready to deliver and that he was gonna make a sandwich in the break room and that he would come back in a little bit,” she said.
One nurse, though, had enough -- and told the delaying doctor that it was now or never.
“She said, 'You deliver this baby or I will, right now,'” Brege said.
Khalaf put his gloves on and had no time to spare, she said.
“Normally it's, 'Oh, here comes the head, here comes the shoulder.' Nope, it was one push, her entire body came out at once,” Brege said. “I couldn't even enjoy the birth of my child...I was in so much pain…”
Today that baby is a healthy 7-year-old, but Brege gives no credit to Khalaf.
She said her story is just one more reason the State Health Department needs to revoke the doctor's medical license before this happens to another woman.
“It would be terrible if a new patient or a girl had to go see him, picked him from the litter and then...had a horrible experience all over again,” Brege said. “To be a doctor is to care for someone, to take care of them. I don't think he should be a doctor at all.”
To check the state's doctor registry and search for misconduct by New York State doctors, click here.
