School officials in Florida’s Volusia County School are insisting that a school nurse was perfectly correct in refusing to give a boy his inhaler during an asthma attack because a medical release form was not signed by a parent. By the time the mother arrived at the school, her son was passed out on the floor. She says that the nurse watched as her son, Michael Rudi, 17, collapsed.
The school dean found the inhaler in its original packaging with the student’s name and directions for its use. He seized the inhaler because of the absence of a form. When the boy began to have trouble breathing the mother was called to come into school. It is not clear why, if they could reach the mother, they could not get telephonic approval. More importantly, with the boy having breathing problems, the school insisted that it was still more important to get a form signed than help the child. Rudi is quoted as saying “[a]s soon as we opened up the door, we saw my son collapsing against the wall on the floor of the nurse’s office while she was standing in the window of the locked door looking down at my son, who was in full-blown asthma attack.”
Faced with this horrific situation, the Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky, still insists it was the parents’ fault for not being sure a new signed form was on file this year. There may have been a failure in supplying such a form, but that pales in comparison to the callous and irresponsible attitude to this teenager who was in obvious medical need. The school was previously made aware of the boy’s medical condition and yet stood there with an inhaler and an unsigned form in hand . . . but concluded the form was the more pressing matter.
It is also not clear why 911 was not called. The parents have filed child endangerment charges against the nurse. They also may want to consider a civil lawsuit against the school. Since the school appears primarily motivated by legal rather than medical considerations, a torts action may serve to concentrate the mind of officials.
Source: Orlando
fee
“…an aspirin and an inhaler would not have hurt other children.”
Wrong. Hemophiliacs should not take aspirin–nor should people with digestive problems. In addition, there has been a link found between the taking of aspirin and Reye’s syndrome under certain circumstances.
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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Reye’s (Ryes) syndrome is a rare but serious condition that causes swelling in the liver and brain. Reye’s syndrome most often affects children and teenagers recovering from a viral infection and who may also have a metabolic disorder. Signs and symptoms such as confusion, seizures and loss of consciousness require emergency treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment of Reye’s syndrome can save a child’s life.
Aspirin has been linked with Reye’s syndrome, so use caution when giving aspirin to children or teenagers. Though aspirin is approved for use in children older than age 2, children and teenagers recovering from chickenpox or flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reyes-syndrome/DS00142
“It is also not clear why 911 was not called. The parents have filed child endangerment charges against the nurse. They also may want to consider a civil lawsuit against the school.”
Assuming this family is a typical family of typical wealth (that is to say, no wealth), how much would such a lawsuit cost?
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR THIS FAMILY TO GET FREE OR AFFORDABLE LEGAL REPRESENTATION IN SUCH A CIVIL LAWSUIT?
Is such a civil lawsuit likely to find a lawyer willing to take this on either on a contingency basis or pro-bono?
What are the requirements, if any, for lawyers to perform pro-bono work, and how likely is it a lawyer would represent this family pro-bono?
Lawyers have been given many privileges and entitlements by society. These sorts of abuses by schools, by cops, by bureaucrats against the citizen demand that lawyers repay society by providing copious amounts of legal work to the common citizen at affordable or reasonable rates, or else to put their bodies on the line to reform these abuses.
Until there is much less of a gap between the common citizen’s needs for legal representation against the government, these abuses will continue.
Also, I exclude Gene H from this because citizens require competent lawyers.
Why did the nurse accept a medication without having a permission slip on file?
idealist,
All pertinent medical information and emergency medications were included in the bag. Teachers would talk with the nurse prior to a field trip about the children who might need to have an inhaler/an injection with an epi pen, etc. The nurse had signed medical release forms on file. Our school system dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s.
I tend to agree with BarkinDog. Legal arguments aside; How does one human stand there and watch someone else pass out (he could have died, it wouldn’t have made a difference), and you stand there with HIS inhaler IN YOUR HAND and watch him, afraid, suffering and very possibly dying? Hitler would have been very proud of you honey, you have what it takes! Auschwitz would have delighted in you! Where is the humanity in this robot of a woman professing to be a nurse?
Back in my day they didn’t FILL the kids with drugs that were dangerous. As pointed out above, an aspirin and an inhaler would not have hurt other children. We didn’t have incidents like this back then, and oh my GOSH we have lived to tell about it!
rafflaw,
Did you read my earlier comment about the school being at fault for not calling 911?
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/05/24/students-goes-into-asthma-attack-but-school-nurse-refuses-to-let-him-use-inhaler-without-a-signed-parental-form-nurse-watches-with-inhaler-as-student-collapses/#comment-374094
School systems usually have rules about measures that should be taken in case of a medical emergency. This system did–but they weren’t followed.
rafflaw, Seems like 911 was the correct call.
Elaine,
Your field trip emergency pack for teacher use intrigues me. What judgement calls were they empowered and/or forced to make? Were they and the school protected from liability suits?
Nurse Kratchet thanks you very very very much,
Elaine and Swarthmore Mom,
even if the signed permission slip was not in hand, for whatever reason, the nurse has a duty to help a stricken student, doesn’t she? Does a school nurse not provide first aid or CPR when needed, even if there was no previous medical history requiring a prescription and therefore a medical permission slip signed by a parent? The school can’t be successfully sued for calling 911 for a stricken student.
Ladies,
when responsible adult parties to standard routines fail, who does the dying? If it has his name on it, and you can see that within your competence that there is a need, then give it to him. And the law must exist which protects like “castle doctrine does.
The parents of children in that school district need a meeting today or a posse tonight to resolve the problem with the nurse, the principal and the school board. Nurse Kratchet needs to go but not before having her license to be a nurse is torn up. The Principal needs to go because once it is proven that they cant teach and thence assigned to teach teachers and fail at that then there is no place in a school for them. This particular child needs to be assigned to another school so that the fear of them killing him on purpose might dissapate. All that being said, some practical action needs to be taken. If the kid has a dad or another male person like grandfather, uncle, or pal, that person needs to go kick the crap out of the principal if he is a male. We call it the living crap where I come from. Perhaps locking the nurse, the principal and the school board in a room without oxygen or oxycotton would be the right course of action.
Elaine, I think your school’s protocol is pretty standard.
Bron,
I can only speak about the district where I taught in a public school. The rules regarding students’ medications and signed medical release forms were put in place to PROTECT children. They were precautionary measures. Students with all types of medical conditions and diseases–including asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, ADHD–attend our schools. It would be extremely unwise to have children carrying their medications around with them or keeping them in their lockers at school. What if the medications were lost? What if a child found another child’s drug and took it? What if a child let another student take his drug? What if a student sold his/her drug to another student? At my school, student medications were kept in the nurse’s office. She was the person responsible for making sure that students got the right dosage at the right time or an inhaler/injection with an epi pen when needed. The nurse also provided us teachers with a special medical bag when we took our children on field trips.
School personnel who serve “in loco parentis” need to have information about the drugs/medications that a child takes/may need to take in an emergency. They need to be aware of any allergies, diseases, conditions that may affect a child’s health. Parents should understand that it is their responsibility to make sure that schools have all the information and signed release forms that are necessary to insure their child’s well-being.
The reason they couldn’t get telephonic approval from the mother is because they couldn’t record the conversation and therefore couldn’t use the phone conversation as evidence in court. You can use a signed parental consent form as evidence in court. This school was covering their backs. That is how it goes down in the United States now. Everyone is out to sue everyone. A kid dies, so what? At least I followed proceedure. It used to be that common sense would prevail. Not anymore. Using common sense will get you a lawsuit now. If you see someone choking in Burger King, just call 9-1-1, sit back and watch as his face turns blue,. Attempting to save his life may ruin yours. Yes, the judges of this country are responsible for allowing so many of these types of lawsuits to go forward. It’s similar to when judges allow homeowners to be sued for medical expenses and pain and suffering by robbers who, after breaking a window to enter a home, cut themselves on the glass. It is the judges who facilitate this bizarre and absurd society in which we live. Some judges in this country have serious mental illness undiagnosed. So when you see this type of behavior, just remember that they don’t ask parents to sign consent forms for nothing. It is all about not getting sued.
How long before asphyxiation causses brain death?
How long does 911 take to get there and the student breathing again?.
How many lawyers, legislators, judges, nurses, principals, etc, dance on the head of a regulation and a liability case?
How long can the memory of a dead child endure?
Can money or revenge compensate?
Or shall we do as the homophilic Spartans who were praised here recently, let us put defective children out to feed the wolves.
“Why?”~Bron
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I heard on the news yesterday that a person who answered a text mssg hit someone and caused them great harm….and were being sued ( the victim lost a leg in the accident), But the lawyer (or some lawyer, not sure if it is the same one) is not only suing the person who was driving and answered the text mssg but is also suing the person who TEXTED the message.
This is creating fear. Now look at the environments that teachers, nurses, police, etc. have to live in thanks to the ever growing threat of doing ANY DAMN THING…..environments of fear thanks to the exponential increase in lawsuits or threat of job loss…..not that these jobs pay so much to begin with mind you but the choice of defending against a suit is not usually ‘choice’ and while many will waive fees if they lose an instigated lawsuit most who defend against them do not. In many minds it is criminal when cops ‘search and seize’ but not so much when lawyers ‘poke and squeeze??’ ????
Private schools require the forms, too.
Gene H:
No, I dont think my dogma is showing. I dont agree with what the nurse or the principal did but they did it because they were afraid for their jobs. If they had given the kid the inhaler without the signed form and the kid died, they would have lost their jobs or faced huge court costs or both.
The public school system in this country is broken, the teachers and principals have no real say in the curriculum. School administration has sucked the life out of our schools. Ask Elaine, she will tell you. Public schools have become a cesspool of bureaucratic incompetence, I am talking on the state and local levels, not the teachers or principals. They are the ones having to deal with the ridiculous and the asinine coming from the state capitals and being implemented by the county b-crats.