OAK PARK, Mich. — Two Detroit-area women say they believe a pediatrician refused to care for their infant daughter because they are lesbians and are disappointed that there is no state or federal law to prohibit such a decision.
Jami and Krista Contreras of Oak Park met with Dr. Vesna Roi before the birth of their daughter, Bay Windsor, in October. But it wasn’t until the girl was 6 days old and they were waiting at the practice for her first checkup that they learned of the pediatrician’s decision.
Another doctor at the same practice told them their Roi “prayed on it” before deciding not to see the child, Jami Contreras told WJBK-TV.
“I was completely dumbfounded,” Krista Contreras told the Detroit Free Press. “We just looked at each other and said, ‘Did we hear that correctly?'”
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The couple said Roi later wrote them a handwritten letter saying that “after much prayer,” she felt she could not “develop the personal patient-doctor relationships” that she usually builds with patients.
Roi did not specify that sexual orientation was the reason for her refusal to see their child.
Roi told the newspaper she couldn’t comment on the case, citing federal privacy law. She defended her commitment to pediatric medicine and helping children, saying her life is taking care of babies and she loves her patients and their families.
