Posted on 06/18/2005 8:23:43 AM PDT by 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.
That's a very good question. Beyond that, as a school employee or medical professional, wouldn't she be required to by law, or face loss of licensure? That's a very good possibility.
Wrong. This would never happen in a Christian or private school. There is a mentality in public schools either encouraged or merely winked at by districts that children are the property of the state. The nurse felt absolutely free to order this child around on very sensitive private matters, and I doubt it was the first time.
The system is and must be, accountable for the misbehavior of it's employees.
That's about it, isn't it. And I might add, destroying parental authority.
"Just another day in public school. The tuition at Christian school is why why we are always financially on the edge, but stories like this remind me how every penny of it is well spent."
All 5 of my kids were in a private Christian school the last 4 years. Last year, my 15 year old daughter got to learn about photos of men urinating into the mouths of other men and annie sprinkles performance art of masturbating on stage and inviting the patrons to come up and view her genitalia with a flashlight. A required reading book in her history class.
I think Christian schools are worse than public school, they give you a false sense of security. At least with public school, you know what you are up against.
In the Navy, I knew of Lab Techs that would search for the early morning HCG (pregnancy test) on the single women in the barracks. They figure, if they were testing they must be sexually active.
*Note - I was never a lab tech, nor did I have access to this info.
I guess you haven't been around many teenage boys have you? Obviously the kid was blowing smoke to impress his friends and the grown up busybodies caught wind of it.
"This would never happen in a Christian or private school"
Never say never.
"Is it a crime if the "perp" is also under 15 in your opinion"
Under the law.
Yes.
Read the next-to-last paragraph, as I asked in post 19...
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."
So from this, I can deduce the following:
(1) The Principal DEFENDED THE NURSE, with a policy statement he happened to have readily at his disposal.
(2) The Principal used this to, in effect, defend a policy of involving the school with matters of teen pregnancy.
(3) The Principal NEVER contacted the parent directly - only using this tactic to respond when confronted.
So I'm sorry, but I agree with everyone else here who thinks this is systemic - not the act of an individual nurse-crusader-type.
Well let's not split hairs. But it sure as hell wouldn't or COULDN'T happen at my kids' school. Parents are involved at EVERY level. The board the policies and rules are all drafted and overseen by parents and a no-nonsense board. If anyone even brought a pregnancy test onto the campus they'd be out on their ear in a second. That's what we pay the big bucks for and everyone knows it.
It wouldn't be the first time a 15-year old (assuming he is her age) did something stupid with little or no reason behind it.
< /rant off - back to topic >
Maybe the nurse was looking for a reason to call the police about the boy, and figured she had one. This might be more about the nurse and the boy than the girl.
A CEO has fiduciary responsibility to the stock-holders. He/she is directly responsible for what happens on his/her watch.
A CO is responsible for the behavior of the personnel in his/her command.
Would we require less accountability of those that teach our children? I didn't think so. The district is accountable.
furthermore - yes, shit rolls down hill, but stink rises.
Of course they found no abuse and her record has been expunged, but talk about an overreaction. Another case of the government, through the schools in these cases, trying to raise America's children independent of their parents.
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