7 yr old girl died at school in VA on 1/2/12

[Momcat]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/11/health/living-well/food-allergies-schools/?hpt=hp_bn10

[rainbow]

Thanks for updated CNN article.  I think CNN must be pulling some posts.  Interesting.

[ajasfolks2]

Not sure if this link is in here.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/131093/peanut_allergy_kills_7yearold_at?next=21

[Momcat]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-latimer/epipens-and-why-schools-s_b_1197082.html

Quote from the article:

"Would you make sure a life-preserver belonged to a drowning child before tossing it to her? Still, if there was a dose of epinephrine in the vicinity, I can't place all the blame on the adults in that school. I blame you. I blame me. I blame society. We live in a world where the fear of litigation paralyzes us to the point of watching a child die. Shame on us."

[maeve]

Unfortunately, what the Huffingtonpost article author fails to realize is that if school officials had used another child's EpiPen, that child would be without his/her life-saving medication (unbeknownst to the child and his/her parents).  Not to mention, that it is illegal to give a medicine prescribed for one person to another person. 

This clearly points to the need for having injectable epinepherine prescribed to the school for use by any student.  The answer is not dipping into the medicine cabinet and grabbing another child's life-saving medicine.  The answer is also having all ambulance crews trained in recognizing anaphylaxsis and having all ambulances equipped with EpiPens.

[ajasfolks2]

Can a school refuse a child's attendance if they have known LTFA and NO unexpired epipen on the property?

I'm wondering about this today.


Would the school have to provide for homebound education (huge bucks $$!) unless/until an epipen is on property (either for the child or generally available)?

[CMdeux]

Interesting thought, Ajas.

I wonder.  It seems to me that they would, in fact, be within their rights to declare such a student "medically unfit" for the environment of the school or some such thing, no?

Surely there is legal precedent here with either diabetes or asthma.  Now I'm very curious, though.  What does happen when/if a parent refuses to provide life-saving/maintenance meds for a life-threatening and unpredictable medical condition?

It's obvious that it does happen, after all. 

[lakeswimr]

The trouble with that is that 20-25% of all first time anaphylaxis happens at school and we know that emergency staff will not always arrive in time to save a person's life.  Schools should have extra epi pens on hand because of this for children who have their first reactions at school and for children like this who don't have epi pens at school for whatever reason.  I personally would grab any epi to save a child's life.  I can't imagine standing there and saying, "oh well" as the child goes unconscious. 

Unfortunately, what the Huffingtonpost article author fails to realize is that if school officials had used another child's EpiPen, that child would be without his/her life-saving medication (unbeknownst to the child and his/her parents).  Not to mention, that it is illegal to give a medicine prescribed for one person to another person. 

This clearly points to the need for having injectable epinepherine prescribed to the school for use by any student.  The answer is not dipping into the medicine cabinet and grabbing another child's life-saving medicine.  The answer is also having all ambulance crews trained in recognizing anaphylaxsis and having all ambulances equipped with EpiPens.

[CMdeux]

I can't, either, Lakeswimr.  I can't imagine not volunteering my daughter's OWN meds under those conditions, even knowing that it'd leave her without them temporarily. 

It makes me ILL every time I put it together in my head what had to have transpired.  I was actually paradoxically somewhat pleased to hear Maria Acebal's comments resonate in that same vein.  There were trained adults standing in a room with the means to save her and they...

did...


nothing?  Unfathomable.   

[lakeswimr]

I think there it might not have been *as* bad as I can imagine.  It might have been a very swift moving anaphylaxis.  I think of times DS had reactions and we hemmed and hawed about giving the epi when we should have.  He was lucky but reactions can progress very swiftly and can turn on a dime.  She was already having breathing trouble and tongue swelling then they supposedly called the child's mother instead of 911, though. 

One more scary part for me is that this district, on paper, seemed so with it!  They have what reads as an outstanding allergy management district plan! 

I don't get why the mother didn't have epi pens at school.  I don't get why the school didn't push her until she brought them.  I don't understand why another child could have offered this chid a peanut.  My son's friends have known not to do that since he was 2 and they were 2 and 3!  Seriously!  We used to go to school and teach his classmates about FAs and never to offer him food.  None of the kids would have done that and DS has known not to accept food from others.  We role played this out when he was little and still do sometime.s  I don't get a lot of things about this.  It's so tragic. 

I really hope the new act about stock epi pens passes so it will prevent any more of these PREVENTABLE fatalities. 

[Momcat]

Moral acts are not always legal, and vice versa.

Having read the proposed law, I don't think it will change anything except to underscore the inequities in our educational system.  Schools have to compete for grants for lifesaving medications!?  Guess which schools will receive the money: that's right--the ones who need it least.  Should we offer grants for schools to install fire extinguishers?

This is more political posturing to make the public feel like something is being done about the problem.  Now we can all pat ourselves on the back that kids will have access to epinephrine and if they didn't... well, it's the school's fault for not applying for a grant.  Right?

[Arkadia]

Probably eight years ago at one of the previous websites i posted schools had an obligation to refuse attendance to any child whose parents had not adequately assisted to provide the standard of care or who prevented access to it.or at least pursue the adjuncts to get it even via state mediated action.  hell the district threatened to pursue "state mediated" access to a "full eval, not limited in scope" if i chose to have him "remain enrolled in districtwide programming".

I mean, does anyone still question the obligation to the "patient".

I too used to talk in questions but not so much anymore.

[lakeswimr]

I don't know if this is legal.   I do know that in a district in MA some people who had a child who had gotten minor hives around his mouth a few times but didn't have epi pens or an allergist had a district that told his parents they had to see an allergist and get epi pens, paperwork, etc or the school could not give any accommodations.  At the time they had only seen a pediatrician who didn't think the child needed epi pens, etc and who had not told them that hives in response to ingestion could mean the child is at risk of full on anaphylaxis later.  They didn't have enough info to know to protect their child.  They did go to the allergist to satisfy the district thinking it was a bother.  The child later had serious reactions and they are now very careful.  But in this time in America it is EASY to be a parent who doesn't have the right info because so many general doctors do not know the right info and don't give it to people.

I have also worked in schools and have seen children who have parents who are not taking proper care of them.  Yes, these parents have responsibilities but it doesn't mean the parents will fulfill these responsibilities.  There is one school I know that has a long list of children with allergies and out of those only a few have epi pens.  Dangerous situation.  And the number with allergies is lower than the number it should be if we go with the 6 to 8% that should have them just for food, never mind other causes of ana.

We know that 24% of first ana will happen at school.  Those parents don't even have the chance to get epi pens.  We know some people lack proper education and information about their allergies because their doctors don't give them the right info (because they don't know it themselves) and we know some parents are not responsible.  $100 for a 2 pack to save the life of a child is a good investment for every school district.  Yes, the parents should be the ones who provide epis but that isn't always going to happen.  It isn't always possible for parents to know to do this (esp if the children have their very first reaction in school.)

I do not understand the actions of the mother of this child.  I feel very sorry for her and also upset that she did not push to have the epi there.  I feel very upset that the school didn't push to have epis there.  I can't let myself really think about the whole thing--too disturbing.

Probably eight years ago at one of the previous websites i posted schools had an obligation to refuse attendance to any child whose parents had not adequately assisted to provide the standard of care or who prevented access to it.or at least pursue the adjuncts to get it even via state mediated action.  hell the district threatened to pursue "state mediated" access to a "full eval, not limited in scope" if i chose to have him "remain enrolled in districtwide programming".

I mean, does anyone still question the obligation to the "patient".

I too used to talk in questions but not so much anymore.

[eragon]

is this a silly ? but did the little girl know what a peanut looked like? quite a lot of peanut allergic kids never get to see them as we keep them away from them.  this is a minor point, but i did wonder as she was 7 yrs old .

[aouda]

I can guess that the school may have had an "epi-or-nothing" policy as a result of recent changes pushed by FAAN and AAAAI.  Note that many of our own members have had to push back on treatment orders that include antihistamines in recent years, as well. 

Does anyone have a link to either of these?