“I’m gonna die,” she said.....Less than an hour later, she was dead. (college, degree)

[afoigrokerkok]

Originally Posted by RebeccaLeigh

4 years ago. And the cost has not gone up much since then, I checked.

I can't honestly see how they can do that. Is it a religious school? If so, that explains it better.

[bigcats]

When I was in elementary school in the mid-late 80's, there was a nurse every other Friday. Not sure how that was particularly helpful. As a teacher, I've never worked at a school with a nurse. One comes by every few months to test vision/hearing, things like that.

[suzie02]

Originally Posted by Katiana

It's none too recent. My oldest started kindergarten 25 years ago; there were no nurses in the schools FT. It was just as described in that school system. Supposedly the health aide should have known CPR, according to the article.

But the kids were probably allowed to carry their inhalers and epi-pens.

Originally Posted by stoptheinsanity

This story is heartbreaking and it really pi$$e$ me off! This is awful! I have had to fight with my child's school for them to be able to carry their inhaler, they still didn't give permission, I told my child to carry it anyway! I also have a child with allergies, she was having a reaction one day and the teachers ( 4 of them) told her she was fine and to go to class, she was 13 and knew what was going on.Luckily one of my other kids happen to see her walking back to class, she immediately grabbed her to her to her class room and borrowed someone's cell phone to call me. By time I got there, they had to call 911 because she was having problems breathing BECAUSE THEY WAITED TOO LONG to give her the meds she needed!

This is awful, I realize teacher's are over worked, but you can not put our children at risk like this!I'm so sorry for this child's family!

If any of my kids were ever to have asthma or severe allergic reactions I make then carry their life saving medications. It just takes too much time to go to the nurses office and have them search for their medicines. If the school made an issue about it then I would fight them legally.
Zero tolerance drug policies have gotten to a point that they are causing children their life. Disgusting.

[esya]

I think those albuterol things are worthless. I don't know why they continue to push them as a solution.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by suzie02

But the kids were probably allowed to carry their inhalers and epi-pens.

No, they were not.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

children with serious medical problems should not be in the public school sytem.

Why? Because public school personnel can't learn how to use a freaking Epi-Pen? It takes about 30 minutes of watching a DVD to learn how to use one. If they aren't smart enough to learn that, they don't have any business working around children.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Houston3

I did read it and he the Doctor ...

"Larson """prescribed"""" the EpiPen, an injectable dose of epinephrine, for an allergic emergency"

NOT ASTHMA... As I have said go talk to her Doctor...

Maybe your Doctor prescribed it knowing your case and maybe her Doctor prescribed it knowing her case. I guess you have seen her prescription and I haven't...I know mine have instructions for me, not the guy down the street taking the same medicine..

"""Larson’s orders don’t stipulate the EpiPen must be used in an asthma attack,"""""<<<<in the story.....


And I have said I don't think the school is 100% innocent in this but not as guilty as some of you think they are...

I agree,but you are wasting your time. I bet half of the posters haven't bothered to read the link and and it doesn't matter, very few are going to look at this objectively; the only thing that is registering is: child died, teachers fault.


"Larson’s orders don’t stipulate the EpiPen must be used in an asthma attack, but the family’s attorney, Thaddeus Martin, believes it would have saved her life. He describes it as “adrenaline to be used in emergency situations when Mercedes had breathing difficulty.” Hmm, yeah, blame the teachers.

Since a nurse signed the plan, Mercedes’ parents believed a school staff member with health training would know what the medication would do and would administer it in a crisis, he added.

Martin maintains that school officials should have been better prepared to deal with an emergency involving a student with known asthma, frequent visits to the health room to get puffs from the inhaler, and many absences due to the illness."

Martin is making assumptions, but if the child's health was that dire then one (should) think that the parents made absolute certain that the school knew exactly what to do in an emergency.

Gap-toothed?

[eevee]

Originally Posted by esya

I think those albuterol things are worthless. I don't know why they continue to push them as a solution.

albuterol isn't meant ot be a cure all. this was something my doctors always told me to keep me from ignoring a more severe issue and relying too much on the pump. my asthma has gotten a bit better over the years, but when I was younger/still in HS, I had a 4 step treatment plan based on the severity:

-preventative medicines like Singular and Advair (back then it was Singular, now I take Advair religiously)

albuterol for minor breathing issues (ie, I used to have issues after walking up 3 flights of stairs, so I'd take a pump. those issues have past and the albuterol is mainly used after intense workouts (not that I exercise regularly nowadays!))

-home nebulizer. I don't have one anymore, but when I did, this was what I used when my asthma got too bad for the pump, but not bad enough to warrant a trip to the ER yet. my school kept a backup (per doctor's order) in the nurse's office since I was prone to bad attacks after PE (they eventually altered my PE plan and I didn't need the school neb as much anymore)

-the ER. self explanatory.

of course, everyone's asthma is different, so not everyone's treatment plan is going to look like mine. I've personally have never treated my asthma w/ an epi-pen, however, since this girl had allergies as well, it may be possible she was having an allergic reaction that triggered an asthma attack, hence the epi-pen may have helped (though I agree, we don't know for sure). IDK, I personally think CPR would have helped mre than the epi, but I don't have all the info at hand, so can't really sure for sure

I forgot to mention in my original posts, but I think suing the school for $15 million is absurd! never mind the fact that it's unlikely they'd ever get the full amount if they won, but if the school has to pay them out a huge settlement, that's just less money going to a possible solution to keep this from happening again: on site nurse and/or CPR training for teachers. I'm not a parent and I can't and hope to never know the pain they're going through, but I would think that instead of suing for a ridiculous amount of money, why not sue to make sure certain guidelines are put in place so that this doesn't happen again? no amount of money is going to bring their daughter back, but if they push for changes, they could be the reason why changes are made and no other child has to die in the same way

[RebeccaLeigh]

The school would not have to pay the money out of pocket. They have insurance that covers things like this. And I'm sorry but it should be a requierment that all teachers be CPR certified. To say that they are not medical personel and that is why thay did not know CPR is BS. To stand by and not do CPR is worse than not trying the epi pen. Her life could have been saved if they had done CPR.

[jenn02674]

yes, I am more concerned about the lack of CPR than the epipen. I've not really thought about it before but there should be people in the school that know CPR, maybe not everyone but in that case they just need a procedure for knowing and contacting the ones that do know CPR. I can't imagine someone hired as medical personel, nurse or not, not knowing CPR, that just doesn't make sense! I have a friend going through massage school and they even had to learn CPR!!

And you just can't compare private to public school costs. Public school services everyone, from the challenged kids to the smart kids to the kids in between. Many if not most private schools have less tolerance, they get the kids whose parents are most involved, they have criteria for admittance, etc. Plus, even if your tuition is only X amount, they get other money through donations, etc.