A now-former nurse at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been charged with four counts of child abuse after a tiny premature baby girl in the neonatal intensive care unit was found with multiple broken bones and bruises covering her body, including her tongue.
The accused is 43-year-old Kieran L. Ansley of Niles, Michigan. A warrant was authorized in early September, WOOD-TV reported.
Ansley faces two felony counts of second-degree child abuse, each carrying up to 10 years in prison, and two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree child abuse.
Ansley appeared in Grand Rapids District Court this week, remains free on bond, and is required to wear an electronic tether. The next hearing is set for early November.
The infant was born in November 2025 at 23 weeks, weighing one pound, one ounce. She spent months in the NICU fighting to live. By early April she had made it past her due date and was two days from going home.
“She was born at 23 weeks: 1 pound, 1 ounce,” grandfather Robert Steavens told WOOD-TV. “And she made it through her due date, ready to go home. And then two days before she was ready to go home, this happened.”
On the evening of April 2, the child’s mother left the unit with her daughter appearing fine. She returned about 6:30 a.m. the next morning.
Court records say Ansley “got up from his seat and ‘jogged’ to cut them off before getting to the room,” telling the family the baby had “slept through the night.”
The mother then saw a tongue that was “blue and almost black” and bruises that had not been there the night before, on the infant’s hands, arms, thigh, buttocks, abdomen, and tongue. Ansley reportedly told her the tongue color had been seen “in the past and it was not a big deal.”
A full skeletal survey found multiple fractures, including broken bones in both legs. Court documents state: “The totality of the findings resulted in a diagnosis of pediatric physical abuse.”
Staff who had cared for the baby on prior shifts said there was no evidence of trauma before that night. Records show 32 entries into the room that night, 27 of them by Ansley. Colleagues described Ansley that shift as flustered, scatterbrained, heated, overwhelmed, and “in over his head.”
Corewell Health, which operates Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, issued the standard statement after the fact.
“The care and safety of our patients is our top priority, and we have zero tolerance for abuse,” a spokesperson told WOOD-TV.
“Upon receiving the allegation, we took immediate action and the former employee is no longer with our organization.” The hospital said it is cooperating with police. Hearts go out to the family, of course.
Ansley’s attorney, Damian Nunzio, told the court his client has “had many years working with ICU patients and he’s a very good person.”
The baby is now about 10 months old, home in Caledonia, and “doing wonderful,” the family says. They are trusting God and waiting on the courts.
Ansley, who appears to publicly identify as a transgender man, posted in a Facebook group for trans men in December 2025 that he was undergoing ‘top surgery.’
The court record lists Heather Lynn Adams, Heather Lynn Ansley, and Heather Lynn Katt as aliases associated with Kieran L. Ansley.
BREAKING: Trans ICU nurse arrested on 4 counts of abusing a newborn baby in the hospital. The infant had multiple bones fractured.
Kieran Ansley (43) in Grand Rapids, MI
Always the ones you least expect… pic.twitter.com/AtZlVz1Hcv
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 24, 2026
This is not the first time The Gateway Pundit has reported on a NICU nurse accused of snapping the bones of helpless preemies.
In January 2025 TGP reported the arrest of Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, a neonatal nurse at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Virginia, after multiple newborns suffered “unexplainable fractures.”
Surveillance later showed Strotman putting her full weight on a crying infant and bending a baby’s legs until the feet reached the head. She later pleaded no contest to nine felony child-abuse counts involving nine babies. Prosecutors accepted a deal that left her with a three-year sentence.
