Venus in Furs …
I was so ready to put up this post I have been working on, about “disability masochist,” about whether or not I am defined by Pearlsky, this whole intellectual and articulate dissertation on how we are perceived because of our kids and how we perceive ourselves, now and even after we pass, the words were just flowing, and then WHAM!!!! Shit happens yet again.
Remember the investigation with the Department of Public Health, Office of Public Protection that is going on against the head nurse of the school district? The investigation that the State Attorney General’s office has backed me up on? The investigation into civil rights violations, abandonment, and neglect? My complaints that during the investigation this puke is still in charge of the daily health care for Pearlsky? Well, here is this morning’s email to the state investigator, the AG office, the school Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent, the Special Ed Coordinator, and anyone else I was able to think of.
The Department of Public Health’s investigation into the nurse supervisor for our town’s public school has been going on for 198 days. This woman I complained about is still in charge of my daughter’s care and is currently endangering my daughter, and here is a specific example from today.
Pearlsky’s IEP states that there will be a nurse on the school bus with her at all times with the single potential exception of the rides between home and school (about 4 blocks). During those rides she can have a CPR trained aide. This is because Pearlsky has seizures and other medical issues and her doctor’s have determined a nurse must be available.
Today the bus was late, there was an aide and a nurse on board. I was told the lateness was because Pearlsky’s substitute aide was late. I asked why the need for the aide since the nurse was on board. The nurse told me that “We are on the bus only for Jackie (another disabled student) and cannot help Pearlsky.” I asked, “Even if there is a problem?” and was clearly told the aide is on the bus for Pearlsky, the nurses HAVE BEEN TOLD that they CANNOT attend to Pearlsky if she has a problem. Having nothing to do with Pearlsky’s IEP, the nurse, again, has been told that she is NOT there for Pearlsky, and is NOT to attend to her at all.
The nurse in charge has instructed her nurses (at least this one) that they are on the bus SOLELY for Jackie, and NOT to interact with Pearlsky. Pearlsky’s emergency medical care (the ONLY reason anyone is on the bus with her) is to be handled by an aide ONLY. That is why the aide was there, to help Pearlsky only in an emergency (they do nothing else) since the nurse would sit idly by.
Please note that in the case of Pearlsky having a seizure on the bus, the aides are not allowed to give her the only proper emergency treatment, Diastat, a determination that the nurse supervisor has made in the past. I can only assume the Diastat would stay in Pearlsky’s bag.
This woman CONTINUES to endanger my daughter, to make decisions that are detrimental to her health, her well-being, and her life.
How do I protect my daughter from this?
I will let you know if and when I hear anything.
I don’t know how you keep from bursting blood vessels daily over this craziness. WOW. Just reading it gets me really upset; I can only imagine what it does to you.
I think at this point I would be talking to a lawyer.
Hmmm, I would add to the lawyer, a good columnist from your local major news paper (NY Times, LA TImes, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, etc.), all of the major news TV outlets (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX), the government agency that deals with ADA, and maybe the Police for child endangerment/medical abuse.
Yeah…local press coverage is an ABSOLUTE MUST in this situation. Every major media outlet that you can think of needs this story leaked to them. At that point trust me…the a-holes will ‘step-up’ the investigation.
This is intolerable.
You know, now that I re-read the comments again, calling the police and seeing if there is any way charges can be filed isn’t a bad idea either. The problem of course is getting any of those people to actually admit they said what they said when it comes time to actually saying it in front of someone that they could lose their job to.
Okay, so maybe a conversation covered with a hidden camera, and THEN a lawyer. Get the nurse to admit that even if she saw Pearlsky having a seizure, AS PER INSTRUCTION, she would do nothing. Or get the aide to state unequivocally she is there for Pearlsky because the nurse would not help her, no matter how dire the circumstances.
It’s really mind blowing, you know? Why would the head nurse instruct this? There IS no other reason other than that she wants to MAKE SURE no one will help Pearlsky in an emergency. It’s…it’s sick. It’s really, really sick.
Is there any other possible explanation for Nurse Ratched’s instruction other than it being her malicious way of taking revenge on you through endangering Pearlsky? Because that would make her an unscrupulous wicked witch who should be sued for endangerment or malpractice or whatever the proper legal category is. Has she ever offered any explanation or shared the rationale behind her decisions? Not that she could say anything that would justify putting Pearlsky at risk… but ignorance or stupidity or anything else would be easier to grasp than sheer malevolence. I can’t believe it has been going on for 198 days and nobody has done anything about it.
Oh shit! I like Rivka’s hidden camera idea.
Let me get the straight. According to the nurse = there for Jackie, aide = there for Pearlsky argument, if the bus driver had a heart attack, two trained medical people would sit there and do nothing? If the nurse tripped and got hurt, the aide could only help Pearlsky? Nice logic. I really hope that the nurse on the bus would defy that order. I am not sure that the head nurse is allowed to tell the nurse on the bus to not help someone in need.
I was wondering the same thing as Kris…would a nurse (other than the psycho you are dealing with), really NOT assist in case of an emergency? Does the psycho threaten the others with their lives that they are such sheep? Do they not have a legal obligation to assist…something in the nursing code of being a real human being or some Good Samaritan law in your state? I can see one person being way out to lunch…I am challenged with thinking that anyone would really listen to her in this case especially. But, what do I know?
It does not matter what her supervisor says. That nurse is legally obligated to assist anyone it is within her ability to help – that’s what you do when you become a First Responder, an EMT, a nurse, a doctor. You are REQUIRED by fricken LAW. That means someone who trips and falls in front of her on a sidewalk and that means Pearlsky.
Death is too good for them all. Why, WHY, WHY did they ever decide to be nurses or work with kids?
I’d be calling the news. SCHOOL NURSES: ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL YOUR CHILDREN? tonight at 6.
This makes the problem we had with one school nurse pale in comparison. And I basically climbed over her desk screaming at her and gave the principal a letter that stated that she was to have nothing to do with my children and if the principal couldn’t honor that, I would have a restraining order on her desk the next day. How you haven’t snapped this women in two….grrr….you are a better person that I am.
Call your governor’s office. You clearly need to go higher than you have already gone. I also like the idea of getting an attorney. File a civil suit against her PERSONALLY (not the school), claim she is acting outside of her role as school nurse by giving illegal orders to her nurses. Get a restraining order so she isn’t allowed to even THINK about sweet Pearlsky.
I’m furious.
To the people who say the nurse is legally obligated to help Pearlsky anyway: no, I don’t think so. It’s a question of liability. I think, if she is ordered NOT to touch Pearlsky, and then tries to help if something goes wrong, and then Pearlsky suffers some kind of damage, in theory Single Dad could then go to the district and claim the nurse’s attempts to help actually hurt Pearlsky or resulted in the damage, and the nurse violated orders by trying to help. And sue for a lot of money.
This is all theory, of course, but if I were the nurse, and ordered not to help, I would always have this knowledge in the back of my mind that if I try to help and something goes wrong, I could get fired and/or sued for my troubles.
Ethically, of course she has an obligation, and we would all like to think she would violate orders and try to help. But the orders should not be there in the first place, making her wonder about consequences.
They’re gonna come back with some BS about how the IEP states that she doesn’t need (ie have to have, although she can have) a nurse at that time so the head nurse interpreted it , which we all know is ridiculous, as she doesn’t get a nurse at that time. Clearly, she is an idiot as well as cruel.
I feel sorry for hat nurse on the bus. She has the ethical requirement to help Pearlsky, but the legal demand that she does not. In this state (AZ) a nurse is not allowed to give any medication w/out Doctor’s orders, and she also has to be in charge of that patient. If the head nurse told the bus nurse that Pearlsky was not her patient, then she couldn’t give the meds, all she could do was CPR or standard life saving rescue efforts.
Also, a nurse isn’t required to help a bystander in trouble, a nurse is required to STAY if he/she chooses to help until someone of higher rank shows up. Then again, it all depends on the state’s nursing board laws.