Did Beyoncé Really Take Over, Like, a Whole Hospital to Give Birth?

Reports differ wildly on what went on, or didn't go on, at Lennox Hill Hospital where the pop star and Jay-Z are the proud parents of baby Blue Ivy

Did Beyoncé and Jay-Z really have bodyguards all over the hospital ordering other patients around while she was giving birth? Is it ethical for hospitals to allow that?
—Matthew, Rhode Island, via the inbox

Whether Mrs. Z did indeed spend more than $1 million to rent out bulletproof suites and a squadron of neckless bullies, all to give unto us a child named Blue Ivy, is a matter of debate at this hour.

But would it even be kosher for a hospital to give celebs such special treatment?

First, the facts.

According to several news outlets, Beyoncé gave birth in her own section of the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Per our own crack news team, Mr. and Mrs. Carter restricted the movements of other parents and patients during their stay. One new father told The New York Post he made four attempts to visit his baby twins in the neonatal intensive care unit, only to be turned away because of Beyoncé's unspecified VIP needs.

The hospital has denied many of the reports about special treatment. Through a statement, a spokesman said that the famous couple was "billed the standard rate for those accommodations. Our executive suites are available for any patient, including the food service and amenities provided to the Carter family."

(A Lenox Hill Hospital rep would not comment to E! Online on exact cost of the maternity executive suite that Beyoncé and Jay-Z rented, but said the suite price is comparable to other luxury maternity suites. By comparison, Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which is also popular with celebu-moms, offers its Deluxe Maternity Suite at a cost of $3,784 a night.)

The couple did have their own security, but, the spokesman added, "the hospital has been and still continues to be in control of managing all security at the facility. We have made every effort to ensure minimal disruption to other families experiencing the births of their own children over the past three days."

Another claim by the hospital: If any other new parents were put out by Mrs. Z and her royal baby, they have yet to hear about it.

"While we congratulate the Carter family on the birth of their child, we value the loyalty of ALL our patients and always strive to ensure a positive experience," the statement said. "No security plan that we or the Carters' 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."

That doesn't explain the reported outrage being vented by Lenox visitors and patients, though. And if a hospital did give celebs VIP treatment that inconvenienced others, that wouldn't be right, doctors tell this B!tch.

"If the hospital agrees to take a special needs patient, it generally makes a claim that it can accommodate that patient in a way that does not disturb the care of other patients," says Dr. Howard Brody, a medical ethicist and director of the Institute for Medical Humanities. 

Whether Beyoncé was unfairly favored or not, we'll just have to file this one under "medical mysteries."

—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum