{"id":395207,"date":"2026-09-09T22:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395207\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T22:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:22:12","slug":"jacksonville-mother-files-lawsuit-over-court-ordered-c-section-alleges-uf-health-falsely-reported-she-was-suicidal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395207\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville mother files lawsuit over court-ordered C-section, alleges UF Health falsely reported she was suicidal"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Cherise Doyley, the Jacksonville mother who was in active labor when a judge appeared on a tablet in her hospital room to consider whether doctors could perform a C-section against her wishes<\/a>, has officially filed a federal lawsuit against UF Health and several individuals involved in the 2024 case.<\/p>\n

Doyley filed the lawsuit Sept. 8, exactly two years after she gave birth to her daughter at UF Health Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges nurses, doctors, hospital staff and others misrepresented key facts to obtain an emergency court order allowing a C-section without Doyley\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n

Among the new allegations: Doyley\u2019s attorneys claim hospital staff falsely portrayed her as suicidal and falsely characterized the baby\u2019s heart-rate pattern as a medical emergency requiring immediate surgery.<\/p>\n

The allegations have not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit alleges hospital falsely reported Doyley was suicidal<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Doyley had been evaluated by a hospital psychiatrist hours before the emergency court hearing.<\/p>\n

Read the full lawsuit below.<\/p>\n

Doyley\u2019s attorneys allege the psychiatrist determined that Doyley was not suicidal and had the capacity to make her own medical decisions.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says Doyley had also made clear that she was willing to undergo an emergency C-section if a genuine medical emergency developed.<\/p>\n

Still, attorneys allege another doctor at the hospital falsely reported to Warren that Doyley was suicidal.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also alleges hospital officials told the State Attorney\u2019s Office and the judge that Doyley would refuse a C-section even in a genuine emergency.<\/p>\n

Doyley\u2019s attorneys argue that was not what she had said.<\/p>\n

During the 2024 hearing, Doyley discussed the possibility of having to choose between her own life and her baby\u2019s life. Her attorneys now argue that statement was taken out of context.<\/p>\n

\u201cVanRavenstein and Burnett also presented, out of context, a statement attributed to Doyley \u2014 that \u2018if her baby dies, so be it\u2019 \u2014 to portray her as indifferent to her child\u2019s survival and to manufacture the appearance of urgency justifying nonconsensual surgery,\u201d the lawsuit reads. <\/p>\n

Attorneys say Doyley was explaining that, if faced with a true, irreconcilable emergency, she wanted to live because she had three other children at home.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit disputes emergency that led to C-section<\/p>\n

Doyley ultimately underwent the C-section after doctors reported that the baby\u2019s heart rate had dropped.<\/p>\n

The new lawsuit disputes the hospital\u2019s characterization of that event.<\/p>\n

Doyley\u2019s attorneys allege a fetal heart tracing was incorrectly documented as \u201cterminal bradycardia,\u201d which they say suggested an immediately life-threatening emergency.<\/p>\n

The complaint claims the tracing actually showed a low, non-terminal bradycardia event.<\/p>\n

Doyley\u2019s attorneys argue the C-section therefore fell outside the narrow circumstances outlined in the judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

The order allowed the hospital to perform a C-section without Doyley\u2019s consent if certain emergency conditions occurred, including terminal bradycardia, signs of uterine rupture or a persistent category 3 fetal heart tracing.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges none of those conditions existed when the surgery was performed.<\/p>\n

Doyley says she was restrained<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also makes new allegations about what happened inside Doyley\u2019s hospital room.<\/p>\n

Her attorneys claim Doyley was confined to her hospital bed while in labor and was denied access to a patient advocate.<\/p>\n

The complaint also alleges an armed security guard was stationed outside her room to prevent her from leaving.<\/p>\n

Doyley\u2019s attorneys argue the security guard was not required by the court order and that the alleged confinement exceeded any legitimate medical or security purpose.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims Doyley was physically limited by her epidural and that staff conditioned assistance with repositioning on her consent to the C-section.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit raises racial discrimination claims<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also alleges Doyley, who is Black, repeatedly requested care from a Black doctor or nurse and pointed out that UF Health employed Black OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine specialists.<\/p>\n

Her attorneys allege those requests were denied.<\/p>\n

The complaint further alleges that Doyley and her doula raised concerns about racial bias during the virtual court hearing and requested an advocate of color. The lawsuit claims that request was also denied.<\/p>\n

Doyley is suing under several federal and state legal theories, including alleged violations of her constitutional rights to bodily integrity and due process, racial discrimination and civil conspiracy.<\/p>\n

She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys\u2019 fees and other relief.<\/p>\n

Two years later<\/p>\n

Doyley gave birth Sept. 8, 2024, after the judge allowed her to continue laboring unless a medical emergency developed. The hospital later performed the C-section after reporting a drop in the baby\u2019s heart rate.<\/p>\n

News4JAX previously reported that Doyley planned to sue UF Health over the court-ordered C-section. At that time, her attorneys had begun the required pre-suit process for a potential medical malpractice claim.<\/p>\n

The newly filed federal lawsuit expands the allegations, asserting that the court proceeding itself was based on false or misleading information and that the surgery ultimately performed did not meet the emergency conditions outlined by the judge.<\/p>\n

UF Health previously declined to comment on Doyley\u2019s case, citing patient privacy.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Cherise Doyley, the Jacksonville mother who was in active labor when a judge appeared on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,7457],"class_list":["post-395207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-uf-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}