Nurse Fired After Posting Photos of a Baby with Birth Defect

Gustavo Caballero/Getty Jackson Memorial Hospital

A nurse in Florida was reportedly fired this week after she posted graphic images of a baby with a birth defect in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

Sierra Samuels was terminated from Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday after a weeks-long investigation over her sharing photos of a baby with a condition where the intestines move outside of the body, the hospital confirms to PEOPLE.

Samuels shared two photos on her Instagram Story from inside the NICU earlier this month, according to local TV stations WSVN and WFOR.

One of the pictures was captioned, "My night was going great then boom!" The following photo was of the child. "Your intestines 'posed to be inside not outside baby!" the nurse reportedly wrote.

She also included the hashtag "gastroschisis."

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Gastroschisis is a birth defect that causes a baby's intestines to exit through a hole beside the belly button, causing the organs to be visible on the outside body, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Samuels could not be reached for comment.

Craig F. Walker/Getty

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The hospital issued a statement to WSVN and WFOR earlier this month and announced Samuels was on administrative leave: "As soon as we learned of this potential breach, we immediately placed this employee under administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation."

"Protecting the privacy of our patients is always a top priority at Jackson Health System. Any potential privacy breach is taken seriously and thoroughly investigated," a spokesperson said.

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Samuels had been a nurse at the Jackson Memorial Hospital since 2016, according to WFOR.

The hospital confirms to PEOPLE that the child's mother was notified of the violation of privacy.