Death of a Surrogate Causes Chaos | New Amsterdam | MD TV 

He is not their grandson. Biologically, he is the fathers. So as painful as it is, the grandparents entitlement is distorted.

I’m sorry, but no. I work in child welfare. Fathers have right to their children before grandparents. Even if the child is older, has never met the father, and has a relationship with the grandparents. We make every effort to find fathers and give them every opportunity to be with their kids. In this situation, the child would go to the father without question.

How the hell is it legal for a biological father not to be granted custody of his child. When the mother is unable to voice her opinions!! Honestly this is just messed up!!

This just made me so mad. If you knew what your daughter was doing and that it wasn’t her baby, WHY would you try to take a cold away from his parent?

She even said he was the father as they were wheeling her in... smh. Her parents are NOT the grandparents but the father is the FATHER. Such a messed up scenario. The "grandparents" make me the most angry though. They are trying to replace their daughter by taking away someone elses child.

This is heartbreaking. This is not just some stranger who pays girls to carry babies. They were best friends and clearly she wanted to help him with something that was very important to him. Being a surrogacy between friends, he probably bonded with the baby already through touch and sound. The baby is not biologically related to the grandparents and is not the last piece of their daughter they have left. She was still alive and they speak like she's already gone

The grandparents even thinking they had any say in this is completely ridiculous

Nope. This is unethical. Those “grandparents” are acting completely selfishly and unethically and THEY made it clear they WERE willing to put their “grandson” in foster care just to spite his biological father. This doesn’t make me feel bad for them this makes me sick…

Legally, the bio father should have automatically had custody before the "grandparents"? Like it's understandable that she can't sign away her own custodial rights, but that doesn't mean the father was any farther than a paternity test away from having parental rights himself.

This baby is not the "last piece" these people have of her daughter. It's not even her child and she never intended it to be her child. The entitlement is appalling.

Okay, I legit thought they were gonna keep the baby. The ending had me breathe a sigh of relief because how unfair if they were going to be that selfish.

Surrogacy or not, why would the grandparents have more right than the biological father?

The older woman is crying for giving up the baby who was never hers to give in the first place. The woman who carried the child to term was not the egg donor.

My sons grandparents fought for custody for ten years...draining all our funds, even kidnapping him once. Eventually they lost and by then my son had seen their horrible behavior and abuse of me and him. He refused to ever see or speak to them again. They wanted my son taken away because I was 17 and his dad and I had broken up. The bio dad gave up custody so they fought for grandparents rights. They ruined so much by their horrible attacks on me and my son. Theyve passed away now and my son is 26...he dropped them and never looked back.

For people who are confused, in surrogacy, people who use their gametes (sperm or eggs) are usually treated as a donor until parenthood is passed after birth. So even though he is the biological father, he is treated like a sperm donor

“She’s also my best friend.” And yet the grandparents treat him like a stranger…that say something?

Nobody is talking about how an OLD couple is stealing a baby!

This is downright heartbreaking. I am glad that the laws changed. But a father giving up the rights to his son so the kid won’t be a ward of the state is so sad.

As a woman - single fathers need more rights.

Paternity testing has been available for over 20 years. There should be no debate over whether he gets to keep his kid.

This show was made in 2018. Surrogacy became legal in NY in 2020. However, he is the father genetically, proof of which should make him the father legally. With or without surrogacy contract. Still, I enjoyed the story. Glad the child won't get stuck in foster care.

I love when they use a 3 month old as a new born 😂

I love when newborns on tv are born and look two or three months old already. 😆

Imagine doctors telling you that you can't take your biological child home because the woman carrying them, your best friend, died. What the fuck?

I hate how they truly believe they have any right to a baby that shares 0% of their genetic make-up

Biological father automatically has a right to custody if the mother is unable to take care of babt, even if she could take care of him as long as there is no reason to believe the baby is in harm he would at the very least have shared custody

When he said see you soon my heart shattered

If the guy is the genetic father of the baby he should have automatic custody compared to the surrogate

This filled me with rage. How dare they even attempt to take his child away on the spot! That's so selfish and horrible!!

I know they're acting out of grief, but the grandparents' actions were selfish. They weren't thinking about what was best for the little boy; only what they wanted. They completely ignored the fact that the father wanted his son and that their daughter knew what she was doing.

I'm glade the parents did the right thing and honor their daughter as she was just helping her friend.

If he's the father why did they give him shit??? Makes no sense.

dude is the legal father. with or without contract. biologically he is. the father.

All Agree to Take care of baby, problem solved...stop fighting and come together to Raise that Baby, period

The baby's eyes is just ughh! Cuteness overload

He’s the biological father, this whole thing has to be bull shit lol. But I hope in fantasyland, they are now a big extended family and Robin has a great life with his awesome daddy and regularly visits his surrogate grandparents who spoil him rotten.

The entitlement of the grandparents is sickening.

This speaks a lot. I’m a mother of two (one is front my fiancés ex, though we have been fighting for custody as she literally left the state and hasn’t made effort but won’t give us full custody). So I understand how the government treats single fathers and it isn’t fair. If a mom wanted her baby she would 100 percent get the baby that easily. But to treat the father as if he is below the mother, is despicable.

First of all, surrogacy contracts are enforceable in New York. But even imagining a world where they are not, there are so many issues with this. 2. Why is the doctor in court? (and in scrubs). 3. Why is the doctor speaking in court from anywhere other than from a witness stand? 4. WHY IS THE DOCTOR SITTING NEXT TO THE PARTY AT TABLE IN COURT!? 5. Why is the doctor advising ANYONE on legal matters? 6. The judge says there is an interstate issue, so it needs to go to a higher court, but state courts are free to hear cases that cross state lines and even if the case needed to be handled in a federal court, that is not a "higher" court, and it's not her decision which venue suit is filed in, unless venue is improper. 7. Remit? Appeals courts are the only courts that would need to remit a case (unless you're dealing with a jury verdict). Assuming that they are talking about appeals later in the clip, this was a trial court so how is this judge going to "send a case back" to a lower court, but to a higher court? 8. Also wouldn't you say Remand, or was there a whole trial with a jury that we missed? 9. Why is the doctor acting as if he knows the law and how court appeals processes work? 10. Why is the child advocate openly taking the side of one party? 11. Why are the only people missing from the court the attorneys?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 12. How is it a surrogacy contract if he is the biological father? 13. Absent additional facts, and regardless of any contract between the mother and the father, if a child has a living legal parent willing and wanting to raise that child, the grandparents have literally no say. The only way this scenario would be an issue and the only way I've seen it become an issue is where the surrogate is married, and the spouse is claiming parental rights. But also surrogacy contracts are enforceable in NY so maybe if there was a single lawyer involved and the doctor shut the hell up and stuck to medicine all of this could have been avoided.

I went through the 5 stages of grief while watching this video.

And they say cps etc never take away a child without reason. What did this father do to lose his newborn? What did the grandparents do? Nothing, yet they are having that child TAKEN from them.

Can we please talk about how her parents tried to steal his child??? I’m from Iowa and grandparents haven’t had rights in our state for sometime and am pretty sure DNA would have trumped them an there so called need to steal that baby!

Find it interesting that with other shows if the surrogate mother decides to keep the baby (aka violating the contract) shows how out of their way to show that the surrogate is in the right. But whenever shows deal with the biological father wanting his child they either shows he’s in the wrong or they says he’s right but then try to make him change his mind.

They have no rights to the baby, this was so dumb.

My heart breaks for all three of them. The girl's parents are grieving the loss of their daughter and this father has gained a son, but the cost was very high, indeed. Why couldn't they have reached some kind of compromise....like the couple gives the child to his father, after his beautiful speech to them, and he tells them that they can be surrogate grandparents for this precious child....so they could ALL have the baby.

"He is the last piece of my daughter that I have!" Lady, your daughter isn't even biologically related to that boy. The father at least has some genes in the game. Y'all got nothing! Y'all are grasping at straws, that don't even exist.

At least in the end, her parents did what most wouldn’t, which was honor her wishes and allowed him to have his child back

Those grandparents are like "this is the last of my daughter!"" yall ain't genetically related girly pop

The elderly couple were extremely selfish

Omg this one made me cry! Similar personal experience, really hit home. 💖

I am shock to see Anupam Kher in this episode 😊 wow great. He is a great actor.

So he can’t get a dna test to prove he is the father and get sole custody.

Isn’t it a given if the baby isn’t related the surrogate’s parents the baby goes to the bio dad. I mean that would be the obvious thing to do. As far as I know bio grandparents get custody only if both parents are gone or if they are unfit to parent.

This is a TV show. The court ruling would not hold as she is NOT the egg donor. If she was the egg donor, then the grandparents would have claim in a state where surrogacy is not legal. This is a typical bio ethical case often used in medical bioethics and legal studies. This baby has no genetic material from the woman or the elderly couple. If the egg donor came into the picture and was also suing for custody she -the egg donor-most likely would get the baby boy especially if surrogacy is illegal in the state.

If it’s his genetic baby then legally it’s his. Surrogate or not. It’s his biological child. He is the father.

I don't understand why this is an issue if the Farther is the actual genetic Farther?

I AM CRYING OVER HERE!!!! That's LOVE, Real LOVE, True LOVE - AGAPE LOVE....

The “grandparents” were horrible. Like it’s not their biological grandchild. The father loves the child and will take good care of it. The child would probably rather grow up with a father rather than grandparents. And like… if they kept in good contact they could have still been grandma and grandpa. No laws against how to call ppl. Instead they wanted to take away the baby and the father had to give it up in the first place for them to realize it. If it went to court and the father won, they would have never seen the child again I guess.

Glad he said that in front of the mother, so she knows her baby is safe.

How did her parents not know about her best friend?

Surrogate or not, him being the bio dad should give him custody rights, right? I truly hate how surrogacy is handled. The surrogate should never have any rights to the child.

This whole problem started because of those selfish old people refusing to give that man his son.

Biologically they had absolutely no relation to that boy yet somehow they had a better claim to him over the father after birth? That’s so fucked up.)

If their daughter was babysitting a five yr old, would her parents claim the kid as "their" grandchild?

All they have to do is go to court show them the contract. And he can demand a paternity test to prove he's the father. The law in ALL 50 states says that the child goes to the remaining live parent. Which he is.

Even tho this is dramatized it still pulls strings because this stuff can happen

I’m sorry but for cases like this I believe the grandparents are horrible and selfish. They already had their child and yes they are going to lose her, BUT this is the father someone who WANTS to be with the baby and I am only (enter age) but I’ve never had a baby so I have never that loss before. But just ask if they can be in the baby’s life it isn’t that hard 🤦‍♀️ I mean they were prepared to rip a baby away from its father and I don’t know that just rubs me the wrong way. And again I’m not mad mad and yes I know it’s just a show and I know actual parents grieve and wants to hold onto their child regardless the age for as long as possible, but they didn’t have to rip a family apart. I am hoping Robin/Robyn stays with his father

I am loving the comments! . The writers should watch their back.!!

Wait...the baby is 50% his tho🤔. I'm not from New York or the US, so not familiar with these laws...what am I missing? How do they allow this?? 🙄. Is this only fiction?

Everyone commenting obviously didn’t watch it all the way through. I understand where you want to be mad but they understand their wrong in the end and gave the father his baby back. They couldn’t get over the fact their daughter is dead so they wanted a piece of her that they knew wasn’t hers but came from her. That is grief and in the end they understood they were wrong and did the right thing.

I'm really glad this is just a fictional story at this point...

I don't understand why it matters she was a surrogate if he was the biological father. That makes him the father regardless of any contracts. They really messed up on that part.

If he rips up that's contract then he's just an unmarried birth father and should just have his rights. Grandparents couldn't take the baby if he was just her boyfriend

The babes expression is too precious, great actor...

This show is so whack, everyone's reactions and decisions are so unrealistic and wild.

Could they not work out a custody agreement where they share him..suspending disbelief that any court wouldn’t award custody of a child to the father who signs the birth certificate

The kid is not biologically the surrogate's. The baby is not going to look like her or sound like her. So the grandparents wanting "what's left of their daughter" makes no sense. The baby was NOT her son.

It always cracks me up when a "newborn" baby is like 4 months old in shows.

I don't get it. The baby is still technically biologically his child. It's not like he used a donor, it's his biological child. Surrogacy isn't recognized sure but, he's the biological father of that child. They're related, they can void the surrogacy contract but they can't void his paternity. How is this legal?

Wow, such great actors. Those grandparents really made me hate them. 👏

Surrogacy contract aside, why wouldn’t the court issue a paternity test to confirm that the man is the bio father, then give him custody of the baby? That should supersede any claim made by grandparents, right? This doesn’t make sense.

The parents thought this guy was the equivalent of a bystander who caused their daughter's death from a contract/exchange of money, they didn't know he was so personally involved. When he came in and started saying goodbye to his son and his friend, even willingly giving up his son so he could have a better life? The parents realized their daughter did this for more than just money and decided to respect her wishes.

I'm glad they made the right choice ❤️❤️❤️❤️

This is despicable. They should be doing a DNA test on the bio dad and thus giving him custody at least until and unless the birth mother were to wake

The surrogate's parents are WAY out of line here. They shouldn't have a legal leg to stand on.

I hope the Grandparents can at least get to see him now and then.

i feel like i need a lawyer to fact check this cuz none of this sound like the proper way this would go

I have a Ventricular shunt since I was born.. I'm 26 now..

You just know that he kept the grandparents in the kid's life.

Wft, the father and the surrogate was friends and the surrogate's mother dares to say "I'm giving him to a stranger"

I'm so confused as to why they weren't just happy to be grandparents. They're crying like they're never gonna see the kid. Who even wants to raise a kid at that age anyways. Just be good grandparents, duh

This was beyond frustrating and infuriating to watch. 🤦🏻‍♀️😩

Just the fact that he's the biological father is enough for him to have the baby. Tf? That's not their child...not even related to them... tf? I'm sooooo mad

Share him . Raise him together

Luckily this episode had a fairly happy ending but imagine if this scenario played out in real life and the grandparents weren’t as reasonable

The baby is just so cute 🥺

Well that's a way to tell him that his Bestfriend is dying...and that he may not get his baby.

I just realized what that “I’ll see you soon” mean as someone who feels the same way

So they are being treated like she got a sperm and egg donor, and he was just the sperm donor.. Does that mean that if a couple was dating, not married, and had a kid and the mother was unconscious, the dad couldn't take his baby home?

They should have just did it to where they all help raise the baby, he’s a new father he could use the help of two experienced parents