Girl, 15, sues school nurse over prenancy test

KXAS TV ^ | June 17, 2005

[tuffydoodle]

Girl, 15, Sues School Nurse Over Pregnancy Test Lawsuit Claims San Marcos Student's Privacy, Rights Violated

AUSTIN, Texas -- A 15-year-old San Marcos girl and her father have filed a federal lawsuit against her school nurse, who allegedly forced the girl to take a pregnancy test.

The lawsuit claims that nurse Dyanna Eastwood called the girl to her office and told her that a student at another school claimed he impregnated her. Eastwood insisted the girl take the test, according to the lawsuit.

The girl said she did not have sex with the boy and denied that she was pregnant. The girl's lawyer also said she was not pregnant. The suit, which was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Austin, claims the girl's privacy and constitutional rights were violated during the January event.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims Eastwood violated the girl's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.

"I remember the incident," Eastwood said. "Is that how it went down? No, of course not."

She declined to comment further, saying she wanted to seek legal advice.

The lawsuit also names the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District as a defendant. The district's general counsel, Juan Cruz, declined to comment, saying officials have not been served with the lawsuit.

"This whole thing is intrinsically wrong," said John Hindera, the family's Austin lawyer. "She's a 15-year-old girl that's suddenly being confronted with having sex and being pregnant."

Hindera said that Eastwood did not threaten any consequences if the girl declined to take the test, but that the girl felt she had no choice because the nurse is an authority figure.

When the girl's father asked Principal Chad Kelly about the pregnancy test, the father was handed a piece of paper citing a section of the Texas Family Code stating that a child may consent to medical treatment by a licensed physician if the child "is unmarried and pregnant and consents to hospital, medical or surgical treatment, other than abortion, related to the pregnancy."

Hindera said even if the girl agreed to take the test, that consent isn't valid under Texas law because of her age.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

"As I explained before.......read my lips.........you cannot have As I explained before.......read my lips.........you cannot have statutory rape between two juveniles!"

So there are no open court cases in the US regarding statutory rape between two juveniles?

[Allosaurs_r_us]

Remember many years ago when teachers loved to teach and loved their students? Ask any teacher that you know if they love their work and their students and I bet most would say no. Most of them are angry, rigid, and don't really like what they are doing. The education system has run off many of the good teachers. The day will come when there will be a major teacher shortage. I sincerely believe that in our lifetime we will see new educational systems sprout up based around home schooling. Public schools will merely be warehouses for poor children.

 

I believe this is why we are seeing an increase of people moving out into rural America. Most small towns, around here anyway, still have those kind of teachers. My personal experience is all of the teachers I know feel this way. I also know of teachers over in Spokane that believe they are nothing more than glorified babysitters. I think it must have something to do with the size of the school. I think there are only 400-450 kids in our high school. Over in Spokane, I don't know of a single school with less than 400 in the senior class alone.

 

Major difference between having 450 and as many as 2000 kids running thru the halls.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

It is time to close state sponsored, leftist NEA run schools. Get the leftists out of brainwashing our children/grandchildren. Immediately eliminate all taxes that support schools. If school districts are mortgaged with bond issues, make the NEA responsible for meeting that debt.

Even the 'good' schools have more 'bad' than 'good'.

[SoVaDPJ]

I substitute teach, and I'm around kids in that age group. I'd bet cash money that he was bragging about having sex (whether he did or not) and trashing a girl's reputation for the sheer joy of it.

The immaturity level of children is why the kids act that way, and why it's an outrage that they can decide their own medical treatment, as long as it's about sex.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

I messed up quoting you on that last post and I apologize for it.

[Clara Lou]

You have to understand that, at FR, public schools can do no right. It rankles me, as I'm a public school teacher. [I don't indoctrinate my students. I teach them a foreign language. That's all. To my knowlege, none of my peers indoctrinate either.]

I will tell you this one thing. There is no one on this planet, nurse or otherwise, who would have been entitled to administer a pregnancy test to my minor daughter. The issue of my daughter's possible pregnancy is MY business and HERS. I don't need a school to handle my family business for me. So, I'm ticked at this nurse. She could have handled the situation differently-- there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

[SauronOfMordor]

Beyond all of the issues above, I'd really like to know what the nurse/school would have further done in the case of a positive result (no, I'm not accusing the girl - hardly - but since they've apparently got a policy that allows this intrusion without parental involvement, how much further does this go?).

If she has the baby, the school might be out some state funding during her pregnancy absence, plus she will be more likely to drop out to care for the baby. Follow the money. The school has a financial interest in making sure that pregnant students have abortions

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I can tell you this: If this were my daughter, I would fill the nurse's ear in the presence of the principal, and then I'd be off to see a lawyer myself. BTW, I'm a high school foreign language teacher.

I am confused. You are part of the system and as such you know the rules. You explain that the nurse's actions may have been mandated, or at least encouraged, under the circumstances. Then you say that under similar circumstances you would have blasted the nurse for doing what she did. What did I miss?

And you would then join the let's-all-go-to-court crowd. Unless I am missing something you seem to have become infected with the liberal virus and would take actions which only make the situation worse by making the system more rigid in its requirements.

[Clara Lou]

It is time to close state sponsored, leftist NEA run schools
Ummm, the NEA doesn't run San Marcos schools. This is Texas.

[SAMS]

<<"When the girl's father asked Principal Chad Kelly about the pregnancy test, the father was handed a piece of paper citing a section of the Texas Family Code stating that a child may consent to medical treatment by a licensed physician if the child "is unmarried and pregnant and consents to hospital, medical or surgical treatment, other than abortion, related to the pregnancy." >>

Well, that's a real interesting read there Mr. Principal, but it has no bearing on why your nurse forced a girl to take a pregnancy test!!

[Allosaurs_r_us]

The daughter and the father have now made the girl's sex life fair game for exploration and likely a subject of gossip among the students and around town.

 

I agree completely. Had it been my daughter the last thing I would have done would be to publicize my daughters private life or sexual history.

 

She would surely have some splainin to do if she were no longer a virgin at 15 though!

[DoughtyOne]

That was a reasoned response and I'll respond later today. Thank you.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Well, I wondered what was the inspiration for placing the mural in Germantown. It certainly had nothing to do with the students in that community.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Just another day in public school.
...stories like this remind me how every penny of it is well spent.

I agree completely. We have our four children enrolled in a Christian school. And on one income, we also sacrifice at times and will continue to do so until our youngest has graduated from highschool.

However, I just know that 15 years down the road, we will *never* regret the decision to give the children a quality education.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"...I agree with everyone else here who thinks this is systemic..."

It is systemic. This principal is an @$$hole, defending the system that he represents. He is absolutely responsible for the nurse's actions. They should both do time for violating this girl's rights.

Note also that he used a piece of paper about "Texas Family Code stating that a child may consent to medical treatment by a licensed physician..."

SINCE WHEN IS A NURSE A 'LICENSED PHYSICIAN'?

On top of everything else, the nurse should be charged in this case with 'practicing medicine w/o a license'.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

It's pretty traumatic to have some relative stranger tell you that she has a pregnancy test kit for you and that you have to provide urine for that test. I can assure you that there are feelings of anger and shame involved here-- particularly since the whole thing was based on a lie, apparently.

First, we don't know that is what happened. You are surmising from your own frame of reference. Secondly, why is it traumatic and invoking of feelings of shame, especially if you know you are innocent? That seems a reaction based on self-respect or lack thereof. Being female has nothing to do with it other than the pregnancy part. What if it had been a drug test because someone had said she was a drug user?

Many people would have viewed the situation as an opportunity to prove themselves above all that, if they were. The reaction could have easily been one of confidence and satisfaction rather than one of trauma and shame, both indicative of guilt.

[Allosaurs_r_us]

Any other questions you'd like cleared up?

 

HUH?

 

The only question in that whole post, was why you want to crucify someone before you have all of the facts. I don't think you can clear that up.

 

I was merely pointing out that we shouldn't be condemning someone before we know all of the facts. I don't think we have enough of the story to send her to hell yet.

 

From the looks of the state statute, posted by another FReeper, it appears it may indeed be her responsibility. If what I read is true, it appears the politicians have overstepped their bounds and empowered school officials to infringe on our children's privacy and threatened their livelihood if they don't.

 

Perhaps your anger toward the nurse would be better aimed at the political hacks who wrote the state statutes.

[NCLaw441]

I wonder who supplied the pregnancy test? Is that standard issue these days in school infirmaries?

[MortMan]

To be fair in our analysis, we need to remember that linguistic patterns are commonly adapted to fit the language and speech patterns around an individual. Heck - my 14 year old son even has me saying "Dude" from time to time!

[Frank_Discussion]

I grew up watching Bill and Ted, "dude" is unconscious at times... ;)