BOCA RATON, Fla. (Gray News) — A nurse at a Florida hospital was fired after a viral video showed her wishing health complications on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during childbirth.
WPTV identified the nurse as Lexie Lawler, who worked at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
Lawler reportedly posted a 14-second video on TikTok, identifying herself as a labor and delivery nurse. In the video, she said she wished Leavitt would suffer a “fourth-degree tear” during childbirth, along with other complications.
“As a labor and delivery nurse, it gives me great joy to wish Karoline Leavitt a fourth-degree tear,” she said in the video. “I hope that you f***ing rip from bow to stern and never s*** normally again, you c***.”
The video has been removed from TikTok but can still be seen on X.
Leavitt, 28, is expecting her second child — a girl — in May. She announced her pregnancy in December.
A hospital spokesperson confirmed in a statement to WPTV that the nurse is no longer employed.
“While we respect the right to personal opinions, there is no place in healthcare for language or behavior that calls into question a caregiver’s ability to provide compassionate, unbiased care,” the statement read in part.
Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer said on X that he contacted hospital leadership about the incident.
“I was in touch with hospital leadership as soon as I learned this afternoon and have been informed that this person is no longer employed there,” Singer wrote on X. “These disgusting comments have no place in medicine or in our community.”
State officials took Lawler’s punishment even further. She is no longer allowed to work as a nurse in the state, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on X.
“Effective today, Lexie Lawler is no longer allowed to practice nursing in Florida. Making statements that wish pain and suffering on anyone, when those statements are directly related to one’s practice, is an ethical red line we should not cross,” Uthmeier wrote.
The TikTok video was posted in late January, and Lawler’s license was suspended on Jan. 28.
According to WPTV, on Feb. 18, Lawler filed a petition with an appeals court. The petition asked the court to either reinstate her license or minimize Lawler’s punishment so she is only barred from working in labor and delivery, not from all nursing work.
The petition argues Lawler’s comments were protected political speech that were made on her own time in her own home, not at work. The petition also argues the comments were directed at a public figure, not a patient.
It is unclear when a decision will be made.
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