Posted on 12/12/2013 3:48:07 PM PST by Sopater
The mother of a five-year-old is suing the Hamilton County Schools, saying that her daughter with herpes was "strip searched" by the school nurse without her knowledge.
Brandy Madden lodged the suit in Federal Court.
The suit, filed by attorney Valerie Epstein, asks unspecified compensatory damages for "great emotional distress and suffering, humiliation and embarrassment, and for all medical expenses past and future."
The suit says the child was five years old when she attended Apison Elementary School.
The mother on Aug. 16, 2012, gave written notice to the school that her daughter had congenital herpes simplex and indicated how to treat it.
The suit says the school never contacted the mother about the issue until Nov. 12, 2012, when the mother was called and told that it was urgent that she leave work and pick up her child from school because "she was contagious."
The school asked that before the child return to school she have a written statement from a doctor saying she was not contagious. The complaint says, the next day, a letter was given to the school from Dr. Janara Huff, a specialist in pediatric infectious disease, saying that the child's lesions were not contagious when covered. The mother asked that her daughter be allowed to return to school.
The complaint says the principal said the mother would have to speak to Sheryl Rogers, a nurse with the School Health Program Office of the county schools, because the child could not return to school despite the letter. Ms. Rogers told the mother the child could not return to school.
The suit says Ms. Madden then asked Sonya Neal, Apison school nurse, how the school became aware that her daughter had a lesion. The suit says Ms. Neal stated that, acting under the direction of Ms. Rogers, she "had been removing all of the minor plaintiff's clothes on a daily basis for several weeks, looking at all areas of the minor plaintiff's body, including her genitals."
The complaint says the mother was "shocked, upset and hurt to learn these facts."
It says, "Neither Sonya Neal, Sheryl Rogers, nor anyone with HCDE or Apison Elementary obtained adult plaintiff's consent to remove all of the minor plaintiff's clothes and inspect the minor plaintiff's body."
The suit says the search was unnecessary because the mother "had been taking care of the child for five years and knew how to treat any outbreaks without spreading the disease."
It says, as a result of the issue with the school, the mother had to take time off from work and ultimately lost her job.
The complaint states, "National and state nursing guidelines restrict medical examinations of students, and prohibit a genital examination of a student absent parental consent or a medical emergency."
The editor sucks.
No its not. This has been posted before the little girl is in diapers and school has to change her. False outrage by “loving” Mom probably to pocket some cash. Disgusting really when the girl must have gotten Herpes from her Mommy dearest.
Where’s the “diaper” version of the story? I haven’t seen it.
Thanks.
A 6 year old boy gets suspended for kissing a classmate and the nurse here molests a girl?
heres what this story left out.
The girl’s mother, Brandy Madden, says she later found out about the strip search and has decided to file a lawsuit against the district because she never gave consent to the search. Madden is suing for all medical expenses, past and future, and says that the unwarranted searches caused emotional distress, suffering, and embarrassment.
The school has responded, however, claiming that the young girl, who has special needs, still wears a diaper at five years old and that the searches only occurred when the nurse changed her diaper. The statement claims that the girl was, “unable to self-toilet and was therefore dependent upon school officials to change her diaper.”
“…This child had a diminished expectation of privacy such that any routine examination that school officials may have conducted during the course of routine diaper changing would not have violated any clearly established rights of the child,” continued the school in their statement.
Madden also claims that she lost her job due to missing a number of workdays in order to deal with the situation. The lawsuit is still unresolved.
that is important information and changes the situation.
This boy had other behavioral issues and it was not the first time that he has difficulty respecting the boundaries of personal space with others. He had been warned on at least two previous occasions.
The local news had not picked that up. You would think a nurse would be more professional.
How do any of us know how professional or unprofessional the nurse was? Right now we are talking the word of a news source taking the word of the mother who has already been caught in one lie. I don't consider changing the diaper of a special needs child strip searching.
You would think a nurse would be more professional.
The professional part I was referring to was the paperwork and procedures to avoid something like this.
The mother and her OB/GYN may be to blame, as most cases of this could be prevented by c-section for delivery. Less than 3% of kids with this can contract it via in-utero. Sad.
That was my first thought ... where does a 5 year old get genital Herpes????
Okay I wanna know how does a child this young get herpes anyway? That is a sexually transmitted disease and you carry that forever like luggage.
IIRC An IEP (individual Education Plan) is created for each special needs child before entry into a school. The IEP outlines what services are to be provided and who is responsible. Some schools have aids that are responsible for feeding, changing, etc.. Others have the school nurse do it, depending on the number of students in the population.
If this is in the IEP then the mother doesn't have a leg to stand on, and I can't imagine a school that would not have an IEP for a five year old still wearing diapers.
Not trying to be funny by asking, under what scenario does she spread this?
How does a five year old contract genital herpes? And from whom?
IIRC An IEP (individual Education Plan)?
It seems like this should include and inform the parents also. PTA used to be meetings with teachers where parents and teachers worked together. Now it seems that the feral government has gone wild in a power grab and edge parents out of education.
Federal law requires that parents know and agree to any and all accommodations.
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