The family of a McGuire Middle school student is suing Lakeville school district after she suffered a severe asthma attack that left her with a permanent brain injury.
Lakeville school district was recently hit with a lawsuit after one of its students suffered a permanent brain injury last April at McGuire Middle school. In addition to the district, the student’s parents are also suing the school’s nurse over claims she improperly treated “their daughter during a severe asthma attack.”
The suit itself was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court and claims the “nurse failed to properly evaluate, treat or monitor the student, who was in eighth grade at the time.” Instead, the 14-year-old girl was sent ahead to gym class, “where her condition worsened,” according to the suit. As a result, the legal team representing the student and her family allege the “school district and the nurse violated state and federal disability laws by not providing a reasonable accommodation for the student’s asthma, a condition that constituted a disability.” The attorneys, Steven Meshbesher and Richard Student with Meshbesher & Associates said, “The student will require continuous medical and professional caretaking services for the rest of her life.”
At a young age, the student was diagnosed with severe asthma and has spent much of her life undergoing continuous medical treatment because of it. Unfortunately, when the school nurse sent her to her gym class last April, “her airways narrowed until she could no longer breathe.” According to court documents, “she lost consciousness and was deprived of oxygen for about 30 minutes, causing brain damage that has left the teen in a persistent vegetative state.”
At the moment, the school district is denying responsibility and issued the following statement:
“Lakeville Area Schools are deeply saddened by the medical incident regarding one of our students last April. We express our deepest sympathy for the student and family.”
However, the student’s parents, Marquetta Silva and Kenyatta Bowen argue the district and the nurse “were aware of their child’s severe asthma, a disability that had significantly limited her daily activities, including walking and exercising.” In fact, prior to the tragic incident, the school nurse and the district “had an updated asthma control plan from the student’s pulmonologist with detailed instructions about treatment and ways to monitor her breathing during an asthma attack,” according to the suit. The plan included “frequent nebulizer treatments and close respiratory monitoring until the student’s breathing returned to normal.”
The complaint argues the nurse failed to follow that student’s asthma plan and failed to give her reasonable accommodations. To make matters worse, the nurse is still employed with the district and never received disciplinary action against her.
Because of the incident, the student resides at her home 24/7 and receives round-the-clock medical care. As part of the lawsuit, the family is seeking more than $10 million in damages. To help offset some of the medical bills, the family has set up a GoFundMe page.
Sources:
Suit says Lakeville school nurse failed to treat student’s severe asthma, resulting in brain injury
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