A registered sex offender is suing Children's Hospital of Wisconsin for not allowing him to visit his severely ill son.
Stuart Yates claims security guards escorted him off hospital property last week. He calls Children's visitation policy cruel for keeping him from his 9-year-old son.
Meanwhile, a hospital spokesperson said those policies are looked at on an individual basis and in place to provide a safe environment for patients, visitors and staff.
"Kahlil was born (with) Gastroschisis maybe 1 pound and a few ounces," Yates said.
Kahlil has gone from hospital to hospital as a triple transplant patient. The 9-year-old is currently at Children's after a case of E.coli ended up giving him a blood infection.
"Kahlil is constantly vomiting, constantly high fever," Yates said.
The one person he wants to see isn't allowed on the property.
"The security guards and the nurse came and approached me and told me that because I was a registered sex offender that I couldn't be in the hospital," Yates said.
Yates was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1998.
"She said she had been touched by me," he said. "I took a plea bargain because I was facing 30 years."
Back at Children's Hospital, a spokesperson sent TODAY'S TMJ4 the following statement, reading in part: "Access to the hospital can be limited or not allowed under certain circumstances."
Yates said he already paid the price for his conviction and doesn't think his son should have to as well 20 years later.
"I hate that Kahlil has to suffer without me," he said.
Yates filed a lawsuit against the hospital on Friday saying the policy is causing unnecessary harm to families and innocent children.
