Fort Worth, Texas — What should have been the start of two new lives turned into a family’s worst nightmare. Samaria Bates and her fiancé, Kenneth Sauls, welcomed twin girls prematurely on October 23, 2025, at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in downtown Fort Worth. The couple was told that, aside from being born early at 29 weeks, both girls were doing well in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and making steady progress toward going home.
For six weeks, the twins grew stronger day by day. Samaria’s family spent countless hours by their daughters’ incubators, watching tiny hands grasp fingers and celebrating each little milestone. Then, on the morning of December 5, the unthinkable happened. Baby Samaria’s father arrived at the hospital around midday and was barred from seeing his granddaughter because staff said a “sterile procedure” was underway. He had been visiting regularly and was stunned when he was turned away without explanation.
Earlier that day, a nurse had noticed Baby Samaria looked pale around 8 a.m., but the family says that concern wasn’t escalated promptly, and the emergency went uncommunicated to them. According to the family’s accounts, it wasn’t until later that morning — around 11:30 a.m. — that staff acknowledged something was seriously wrong. By then it was too late. Despite frantic efforts, Samaria died in the hospital that day.
The shock didn’t end there. When the family went to the funeral home to make arrangements, they received a phone call that shattered them all over again: Baby Samaria’s body had been delivered without her internal organs. Samaria Bates and Kenneth Sauls insist they never signed any consent forms for organ or tissue removal, leaving them devastated and confused about how this could happen.
In the days since, the family has been relentless in their quest for answers. They’ve attempted to meet with NICU staff, nursing management, hospital administrators and anyone else who might explain what occurred in those critical hours, but they say they’ve been met with silence and frustration at every turn. The absence of transparency has compounded their grief.
On December 12, 2025, community members and supporters joined the family in a peaceful protest outside the hospital, demanding accountability, clarity and changes to prevent future tragedies. Signs reading “Justice for Samaria” and “Families Deserve the Truth” dotted the crowd as voices called for better communication and care protocols in fragile neonatal cases.
Friends and supporters have also set up fundraisers to help cover funeral costs and amplify the family’s call for justice. In heartfelt messages, organizers urge the public to keep Samaria’s memory alive by pushing for answers and reforms in hospital practices.
The community continues to rally around the Bates and Sauls family in their grief, pushing for the transparency they say the hospital has failed to provide. At the heart of their plea is simple: explain what happened to their daughter, why communication broke down when every second mattered, and how a tiny, precious life could slip away so suddenly.
