Apparently, The School Policy Is To Just Let Your Kid Die
A student didn't have the proper paperwork on file to use his own asthma inhaler -- at age 17 -- and the school nurse wouldn't give it to him, and didn't call 911. Shaun Chaiyabhat writes for ClickOrlando.com:
Volusia County School officials stand by a Deltona High School nurse's decision to refuse a student his inhaler during an asthma attack, citing a lack of a parent's signature on a medical release form."It's like something out of a horror film. The person just sits there and watches you die," said Michael Rudi, 17. "She sat there, looked at me and she did nothing."
He said the school dean found his inhaler during a search of his locker last Friday. The inhaler was still in its original packaging -- complete with his name and directions for its use; however, the school took it away because his mother hadn't signed the proper form for him to have it.
School leaders called Sue Rudi when her son started having trouble breathing. She rushed to the office and was taken back to the nurse's office by school administrators and they discovered the teen on the floor.
"As 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," Rudi said.
Michael Rudi said when he started to pass out from his attack, the nurse locked the door.
"I believe that when I closed my eyes I wasn't going to wake up," he said.
The Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky, said that parents must sign the medical release form each year, which allows students to carry their prescribed drugs with them in school.
They didn't have that signed release, Selesky said. Whoops! Failure to file paperwork. Your kid dies!
And let's talk about how ludicrous it is that a 17-year-old is not allowed to hang onto his own asthma inhaler (apparently, a parental release needs to be signed to do that at this school, but at many schools -- per the Cathy Seipp piece below -- students cannot carry their own inhalers).
And as for calling 911, how long does it take them to get there, and how dead could the kid be before they do?
Video at this link.
My late friend Cathy Seipp wrote about this absurdity at reason in 2002 -- when "zero tolerance" collides with children's health:
In her letter to the Bristol Township School Board, Nancy Sander referred to the 1991 death of a New Orleans high school student, Catrina Lewis, who was delayed by security guards before being allowed to get her inhaler from the office. When it didn't help, she asked school staff to call an ambulance; instead they spent a half-hour trying to call her mother first. Catrina's sister, another student, finally called 911 herself, but emergency help arrived too late. In 1996, a New Orleans judge ordered Lawless High School's acting principal, a school counselor, and the school board to pay $1 million in damages to Catrina's family.Much has been made of how school zero-tolerance policies can lead to absurdity. One of the most notorious cases was the 1998 incident in which Christine Rhodes, a quick-thinking sixth grader at Mount Airy Middle School in Maryland, lent her inhaler to another girl who was having an asthma attack on the bus ride home. For her trouble, the school labeled Christine a drug trafficker.
@jonathanturley
Can we say lawsuit? I don't even think suing is enough-I'd get charges on them for something. Sitting and watching someone die while not allowing access to their needed medication has got to be against a law.
I believe I'd just kill them, myself, if it were my kid.
momof4 at May 25, 2012 6:22 AM
Sitting and watching someone die while not allowing access to their needed medication has got to be against a law.
At the very least, it's totally against the Hippocratic Oath. Could that nurse really be this stupid? This kind of idiocy just infuriates me.
Flynne at May 25, 2012 6:29 AM
First we need to start calling these policies what they actually are, "zero judgment policies."
Bill O Rights at May 25, 2012 6:29 AM
Large organizations(mostly government) tend to become infested with the vermin known as bitybrained bureaurats. The public schools are among the worst. The presence of "zero tolerance" policies is a symptom.
BarSinister at May 25, 2012 6:34 AM
I don't see where a school has the authority to confiscate anyone's medication in the first place.
The doctor wrote a prescription for the kid, not the school. The school didn't prescribe him his asthma medication, therefore they should have no authority to control its use.
Patrick at May 25, 2012 6:38 AM
That piece by Cathy inspired a few of us to start a blog called 'Zero Intelligence.' We certainly never wanted for content.
The mother should also file a complaint against the nurse with the state licensing board.
Matt at May 25, 2012 6:39 AM
This is terrifying. That poor kid. I can't imagine how angry I'd be (once I recovered) that the school employees were willing to let me die because of a paperwork failure.
I don't care that the mother didn't sign the form. The school was in charge of the situation, and they could have made an exception. But that would have required them to stop looking at their own asses long enough to notice this kid could die.
MonicaP at May 25, 2012 6:41 AM
First, the nurse should be tried with criminal negligence and felony battery and anything else a clever lawyer can come up with. But since government employees take care of their own, that won't happen.
Second, pull the kid out of the public school system.
Shit like this is why Glenn Reynolds and others are starting to say that putting your child into public school is tantamount to child abuse.
brian at May 25, 2012 7:13 AM
Like I said, I don't see why the school should even have access the child's prescription medication, much less controlling his access and denying it should his mother have failed to sign the appropriate form.
If I were sending my asthmatic son to a public school, I would simply send a note saying my child has asthma, and that he has my permission to carry his medication with him. Any attempts to confiscate and assume control of the child's medication should be met with a lawsuit.
Patrick at May 25, 2012 7:50 AM
I believe I'd just kill them, myself, if it were my kid.
With my bare hands. And if I had to sit on your jury, I'd vote "not guilty".
I R A Darth Aggie at May 25, 2012 8:14 AM
Now this is worth frothing at the mouth over. A parent being called to fix a dress code violation - not so much.
Elle at May 25, 2012 9:06 AM
It is up to the other parents in the school district to take action.
First they should attempt to get everyone involved fired especially the nurse. Organizing a day long strike would be appropriate. The PTA and school board meetings should be packed.
Whenever there are zero tolerance suspensions, the other parents need to treat it as a school wide suspension.
Curtis at May 25, 2012 9:07 AM
Why does the school have the authority to confiscate and restrict access to life-saving medication?
Conan the Grammarian at May 25, 2012 9:23 AM
Just remember, these rules are in place for your child's protection!
Schools are terrible places. They were bad when most of us were coming of age, and they are worse now. Homeschool, start your own school co-op, do anything but send your kids to public school. Every argument against homeschooling basically boils down to: "but they won't get socialized!" as if being put in the hands of people who think the purpose of school is to provide them with steady income is worth the price, or that somehow, living in a neighborhood with other human beings and going to non-school activities like dance, karate, swim, gymnastics, sport leagues, religous services, shopping, etc. will not provide a child with the opportunity to socialize.
The Original Kit at May 25, 2012 9:26 AM
sadly it doesn't work that way Patrick. Since they have 0-tolerance policies about drugs, AND kind of drug, even an aspirin is considered a controlled substance. and by their rules they can just kick the kid out for having it.
Hafta remember, you're in their domain now. And in that little kingdom, common sense is the first thing buried.
I or my ex have to sign multiple copies of these things every year since I have allergic kids... not only the asthma, but an epi-pen too. And then there is the worry that like this, school personnel won't do anything.
A lot-lot-lotta people don't take asthma seriously, because they may know someone with it, and they've never seen a bad attack. There are plenty of schools out there that don't even have nurses anymore, so that's a whole other level of trouble.
Suffice it to say that you have to assume that you are on your own, because a school may not want to be involved. If they called me with such a thing, I'd call 911 en route. We also have the doctor's office type up specific instructions for the school staff to follow in case of an emergency, and the school seems to respond to that.
what zero-tolerance REALLY means is Zero Responsibility. It doesn't have to do with judgment, or interest, it has to do with limiting their liability. Even though legally this has been shown to NOT limit those things, depending on how well parents know their rights and law, schools can get away with stuff.
SwissArmyD at May 25, 2012 9:35 AM
I learned quickly that the school system (at least the one my nephew attended) could give a shit about the kids. It's all about covering their asses and getting the next Levy approved. They have college degrees, but no discernable critical thinking skills. That nurse in the story is a fucking cunt, and I hope she gets her license revoked.
Meloni at May 25, 2012 11:00 AM
Obviously the "nurse" knew that saving this kid's life would have worse consequences for her than letting him die.
Sosij at May 25, 2012 2:05 PM
I have a fairly muted emotional response to most things aside from my rage.
But if that were my kid the nurse wouldnt be needing to worry about her job, her family would have to be worring about whether it was fesable to have an open casket cermony
lujlp at May 25, 2012 2:59 PM
Lots of invoking of lawyers and lawsuits here. Sounds like the usual tag team action, out patrolling for folks deserving of wedgies. So childish, so reflexive, so knee-jerk. Touche and sigh.
Andre Friedmann at May 25, 2012 3:42 PM
You know what? Your absoultly right Andre. We are ttally over reacting to a school refusing life saving medicene, and locking a boy in a room alone as a soffactes into unconciusness, and for all the school officals knew, death.
Its really no big deal right? So you wont mind if we hold a plastic bag over your kids face until he passes out as its such good fun?
lujlp at May 25, 2012 4:28 PM
The mindless stupidity rampant within the ranks of school employees rivals that of the TSA. Anyone else see parallels here? Common sense seems not to be a job requirement of public employees, all the way up the chain...
Savant Idiot at May 25, 2012 6:28 PM
Being late to the party I'm up for drawing and quartering, but that's just me.
A minimum that needs to be done in this case is that the nurse needs to referred to the state medical board for violation of standard of care.
Lawsuits and malpractice also needs to be filed.
Jim P. at May 25, 2012 7:43 PM
From the article, it looks as if the mom is looking to file criminal charges.
Sosij at May 25, 2012 8:58 PM
I'm quite certain I could have Satan walking out of the room... all the while mumbling to himself "where was this guy in the 12th century??..."
John C at May 25, 2012 9:39 PM
I'm honestly glad people are looking at lawsuits as a solution to this. (Yes, I do have lawyers in the family, but they don't do torts.)
One reason we have so many crazyshit laws and policies —such as this school's requirement for ludicrous paperwork on file— is that society (often) and institutions (VERY often) think all the trouble in the world can be anticipated or prevented...
But it can't. And the courts were going to be there for the school if someone had come after them for the other side of this issue... For example, if some zombie parent said "you may not medicate my child under any circumstances." In that case, the school could have demonstrated that the zombie parent was being unreasonable.
But their policy, and their adherence to it, has merely put them in a more-defensive position in a lawsuit... And brought some tremendous suffering to one family. We have some of the most refined legal procedures in human history by which to redress grievances.... Policy is not the problem, and it's not the solution.
So, yeah, I agree with most of you. (Including a few of the violent-fantasy people.)
But I think you guys forgot to sue the college where the nurse got her degree. Any course of education like hers must include a class on medical ethics. If it didn't, her degree is fraudulent. And if it did, she learned nothing, and her degree is fraudulent anyway.
And it's notable that the article cites "Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky" rather than naming the nurse. The school system may have more administrators than they need.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at May 26, 2012 12:24 AM
This is exactly what happens when you trust the government to take care of everything at the micro-level.
It's always in bad taste to trash parents of a tragedy victim. I love being in bad taste. These parents very likely voted for the policies that killed their kid.
Comment Monster at May 26, 2012 10:24 PM
Oh, wait, the kid didn't actually die?
Lazy, stupid parents. Bureaucrats suck, but they suck more.
Comment Monster at May 26, 2012 10:27 PM
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