Kapi’olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital

A misleading sentence in the Wikipedia article on Kapi’olani Hospital has led some to believe that the hospital where President Obama was born was not named what his birth certificate says it was in 1961. The Wikipedia has been corrected and the true name in 1961 has been documented, and it is Kapi’olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital. Thanks to expelliarmus who looked up references and those who fixed the Wikipedia in such a comprehensive way.

Update:

Since this rumor is still circulating as of today, December 27, 2013, I decided to expand this article and to include it in The Debunker’s Guide to Obama Conspiracy Theories.

A few long-form 1961 birth certificates are available from Kapi’olani hospital. They all show the same hospital name. A good example is that of the twins born to Susan Nordyke (click to enlarge):

Nordyke

Published articles both before and after 1961 show clearly that the hospital was named Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, just as it says on the President’s birth certificate. There is simply no contrary evidence to this fact. The Wikipedia article on the hospital has full details.

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
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12 Responses to Kapi’olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital

  1. gorefan says:

    Now if it will just stay fixed.

  2. Expelliarmus says:

    Actually, the wikipedia changes have already been removed due to the wikipedia prohibition on “original research”.

    Weird wikipedia rules: If we could find printed hearsay from a “reputable” source saying that the hospital name was changed on such & such a date, then that could go into wikipedia. But If we merely find a few dozen journal articles going back to 1940 referencing the hospital name…. that is producing evidence, not a reference, and therefore violates the wikipedia rule.

    In any case, here are the citations from 1940 & 1943 research journals that were removed from wikipedia:

    “Sarcoma of the ovary: Case report”. The American Journal of Surgery 47 (1): 153-156. January 1940.

    “Decidual Reactions in Fallopian Tubes”. Am J Pathol 19 (6): 1043-1055. November 1943.

    I did find from other internet research that there was a specific change to the hospital’s charter which changed the name, but there was no indication of the date when that happened – so as it stands I’ve got nothing before 1940 or 1943, depending on whether the 1940 cite is considered definitive. The 1940 citation is a little ambiguous because it refers to “Queens and” Kapiolani “Hospitals”.

  3. Expelliarmus says:

    Here’s more — over at Native Born Citizen there’s a citation to a lawsuit from 1932 with the full hospital name in the title. See http://nativeborncitizen.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/educating-the-confused-kapiolani-maternity-gynecological-hospital/comment-page-2/ citing Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital v. Wodehouse, 70 F.2d 793. DCNY 1932.

  4. Slartibartfast says:

    Expelliarmus: Actually, the wikipedia changes have already been removed due to the wikipedia prohibition on “original research”.

    Can Doc put this in his article and then cite it on Wikipedia? Or isn’t he reliable enough?

  5. Expelliarmus says:

    I don’t think a blog posting would be an acceptable source. That’s just bootstrapping in any case.

  6. Expelliarmus says:

    More info, from KAPIOLANI MATERNITY AND GYNECOLOGICAL HOSPITAL v. ERNEST H. WODEHOUSE (1936):

    The statement of facts sets out, among other things: “That on, to-wit, February 15, 1929, the testatrix, Mary E. Foster, in response to the solicitations made of her, with full knowledge of all the facts and well knowing that any moneys that she might contribute to such building fund were for the exclusive purpose of defraying the cost and expenses of the erection and completion of the new maternity hospital building at the new site and would be used exclusively for that purpose and not for the establishment and/or maintenance of beds or for other furniture, fixtures or equipment to be used in said maternity hospital, made a gift to the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital of the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00).”

    The will that was the subject of the lawsuit referred to “KAPIOLANI MATERNITY HOME” and was made out in 1926.

    So it looks like two things happened between 1926 and 1931 (when the hospital appears to have initiated its lawsuit): (1) The name changed, and (2) A new hospital building was erected. Possibly those 2 events coincided.

  7. Expelliarmus: I don’t think a blog posting would be an acceptable source. That’s just bootstrapping in any case.

    For sure.

  8. Expelliarmus: Actually, the wikipedia changes have already been removed due to the wikipedia prohibition on “original research”.

    I’m not sure what was there, but now there is a well-sourced timeline of the hospital and name changes.

  9. Expelliarmus says:

    From the edits, the timeline was added today by a user with the ID “NewRoss” (not me) — who obviously put some effort into filling the reference gap & playing by Wikipedia rules.

  10. not sheeply says:

    Even if he wasn’t born in Hawaii he would still be a citizen since his mother is a US citizen. But if you notice his birth certificate is a paper print out and anyone of the birth certificates I’ve ever seen from Hawaii are black with white writing on it.

  11. not sheeply:
    Even if he wasn’t born in Hawaii he would still be a citizen since his mother is a US citizen.

    No, that’s not correct. The law as it stood in 1961 required the US citizen parent to have lived in the United States for 5 years after the age of 14. Stanley Ann Dunham was 18 when Obama was born, making it impossible for her to meet the statutory residency requirement.

    For Barack Obama to be a US citizen, he must necessarily have been born in the United States, which he unquestionably was.

  12. not sheeply: But if you notice his birth certificate is a paper print out and anyone of the birth certificates I’ve ever seen from Hawaii are black with white writing on it.

    It depends on the year the certified copy was made. The oldest examples are positives, typewritten onto security paper. Slightly more recent ones are negative. All modern certificates are again positives. Obama’s certificate was issued in 2011.long after Hawaii stopped using negatives.

    While the certificates you may have seen may be negatives, many other examples are not, such as the Johanna Ah’Nee certificate.

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