Los Angeles (E! Online) – After inexplicably biting the hand that was offering to feed her babies, Nadya Suleman found herself in a familiar place—talking to Dr. Phil.
Addressing the TV doc and his guests, attorney Gloria Allred and Linda West Conforti and Jackie Peebles from Angels in Waiting USA, for a Dr. Phil segment scheduled to air Wednesday and Thursday, Suleman tried to explain why she fired the nurses that Angels had secured to care for her 14 children.
"The primary issue was that myself and my nannies felt extremely uncomfortable," Suleman told Dr. Phil by phone. "I personally felt like a stranger in my own home. The goal was to empower me as a mother, help me, train me. I'm open to that, I want that, I want to do the very best for these...premature babies.
"I wanted [Angels] to use their training and knowledge to help guide me. I felt that was never accomplished. I felt as though every time I tried to hold the babies, feed the babies, they would be observing and they were waiting for me to make a mistake."
Kind of like the rest of America?
Anyway, Allred, who along with Dr. Phil helped get Angels in Waiting onboard, doesn't believe it all went down just how Suleman said.
"Our major concern has always been the best interest of the babies," L.A.-based legal eagle said, "and of course, I happen to disagree with quite a bit of what Nadya said in terms of what has happened. I think the real reason that Nadya has not been able to continue with Angels in Waiting may be the fact that not one, but three reports had to be filed with Child Protective Service by Angels in Waiting," who are required to report any missteps they see to child services.
Allred has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at 1 p.m. at her Wilshire Boulevard office to "reveal the true facts" behind Suleman's decision.
"The whole point of Angels in Waiting, besides providing such high-quality care…was not to put the burden on the taxpayer, but that's what Nadya and Jeff are doing," Allred said. [They want] to shut everybody up…that's wrong. I want to know what they are hiding and why."
On Octomom's side is attorney Jeff Czech, who maintains that they have nothing to hide, but that the initial arrangement with Angels in Waiting put Suleman in an untenable position.
"I don't think anyone really foresaw the extent of what would happen the first time around," he said, referring to the night of March 17, when the first of the octuplets, Isaiah and Noah, were released from the hospital.
According to Czech and Suleman, nurses from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, where the babies were born, will help train the nannies Suleman chooses to hire herself.
Meanwhile, a rep for the hospital told Us Weekly today that the staff shakeup at the Suleman home will not affect the timetable for the remaining four babies' release.
"That is between [Angels] and Nadya Suleman," Kaiser spokesmasn JIm Anderson said. "The AIW is a whole separate thing. Our decision to discharge the babies previously and now, never had anything to do with AIW."
Another hospital employee who has been to Suleman's house says that two pediatric nurses visit the home each day to help out the existing nannies.
··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com