The hospital that welcomed Beyonce and Jay-Z's new baby Blue Ivy into the world is under new scrutiny after reports that a lavish suite was built for the couple.
"A month ago, [workers] tore down 6-8 rooms and turned them into 2 suites," US Weekly quoted a Lenox Hill hospital source as saying. The couple "paid to have it constructed just for them."
On Thursday, TMZ obtained photos showing the purported VIP suite, containing "four flat-screen TVs" and "mahogany walls," the couple stayed in for the birth.
The pictures come days after the hospital denied reports of special treatment -- and mistreatment of other new parents who were also having babies at Lenox Hill.
On Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the hospital’s reported celebrity treatment of the baby, clarifying his remarks and admitting that, "it's been an awful long time since I've been in a maternity ward," according to E! Online.
"Let's step back a little bit here," he said, "If [the hospital] got paid a lot of money and it let them provide services to other people who don't have insurance or can't afford it, I'm not so sure it's a bad thing," he said. "Full-paying patients are very valuable to hospitals in this day and age."
Read more: First comes the baby, then come the rumors
The singer gave birth Saturday to Blue Ivy Carter at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. In a joint statement Monday the couple said, "Her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful – we are in heaven."
But things have been anything but heavenly for Lenox Hill since the birth. Media reports said the couple rented out a whole floor, paying more than $1 million for private access.
The controversy reached such a boiling point that the hospital's executive director Frank Danza put out a statement this week, saying the facility was “troubled by the misinformation being circulated in some news media reports.”
Danza also denied that the couple paid seven figures to rent out a floor but admitted that the couple did have their own security.
“The suggestion that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent an entire maternity floor is simply not true," he said.
He also denied that any other patients were affected. "No security plan that we or the Carter’s security team put in place would have prevented or delayed families from gaining access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and to date, no families have complained to the hospital about being denied access to the NICU".
Is the Beyonce baby backlash fair? Or did the celeb couple have to invest in security to keep their newborn safe from possible paparazzi problems?
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