Teen won't face charges for sharing inhaler

Houston chronicle ^ | Oct. 11, 2003

[IronKros]

A Montgomery County teenager, expelled from school for letting his girlfriend use his prescription asthma inhaler, will face no criminal charges, his mother said Friday.

The 15-year-old's family reached an agreement with school officials and attorneys during a hearing at Caney Creek High School on Friday.

The boy can return after the Christmas holidays, but his family said they have decided he will be home-schooled.

On Sept. 23, the teen accompanied his girlfriend to the nurse's office because she was having asthma problems. The nurse reported he lent the girl the inhaler.

Family members say he was trying to help, and noted that the girl uses the same prescription

[IronKros]

This hit way to close to home... literaly.

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[gas_dr]

There you have it people -- the freaking gestapo in public school will not let to nearly adults share asthma medication (and if she was having an asthma attack and did not have her albuterol -- I applaud the young man for having the sense to give her the treatment) to stop potentially catastrophic health problems -- BUT condoms, oral contraception and the rest -- HEY no problem. What a bunch of maroons!

[sheltonmac]

...his family said they have decided he will be home-schooled.

Good for them!

[IronKros]

don't we call that the silver lining?

Some good came out ot it.

[surrey]

This story absolutely infuriates me. Having an asthma attack is terrifying and thankfully this boy was able to help his fellow student.

[Dudoight]

The facts as repored here conflict with the facts revealed yesterday in the news. This kid was not trying to help his girlfriend over an asthma attack. He had passed his inhaler around before and had been warned not to do so. This kid must feel having an inhaler he can pass around must make him special.

[Mears]

I worked with girl who had forgotten her inhaler and someone else loaned her one. The recipient was very grateful. Albuterol is hardly morphine so what is the big deal of letting someone have a few puffs.

If someone had a headache could they be given an aspirin by someone else in this school?

The fact that criminal charges were even considered appalls me. Madness!

[IronKros]

Which news source was it?

Click 2 Houston still has the original story.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/2547143/detail.html

[The Game Hen]

If a student has a headache he can't take HIS OWN tylenol without reams of documentation including a signed doctor's order.

[dljordan]

Everything is a crime now. Things that used to be handled with a reprimand are now police matters. This is sick.

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...If someone had a headache could they be given an aspirin by someone else in this school?

They threatened to expel my daughter because she had aspirin in her bag at school.(High School)

Also the school nurse would not give her aspirin without parents permission.

[Mears]

Good Lord,she had an aspirin and they threatened her with expulsion?

The school nurse wouldn't give her an aspirin but in some schools you can get condoms and abortion advise.I'm glad I'm not a parent of school kids anymore,I would probably turn into a raving maniac.

[thatsmrfoster2u]

Lock him up, and throw away the key! I mean the principal, of course.

[jocon307]

"They threatened to expel my daughter because she had aspirin in her bag at school.(High School)"

It's incredible, isn't it? And yet, in NYC anyway, a kid could be terrorizing the whole school, and you couldn't get rid of them.

This system is going to go the way of every other corrupt, stalinist regime, down in ruin. It may take a while, but the writing is plainly on the wall for them already. Too bad they are too ill-educated to read it.

Good luck to all public school parents, a lot of looneys are out there running the joints, and the teachers' unions make the teamsters look like a bunch of choir boys. At least I never think the teamsters hate America.

SUPPORT VOUCHERS! BREAK THE UNIONS! SAVE THE CHILDREN!

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I have experience in both of these areas.

I am an asthma educator. The problem with the inhalers is that you can get a high or a buzz from using one. Kids have been known to steal inhalers from asthmatic. In some schools in our area students aren't permitted to carry their own inhalers. A year or two ago a student died because he had an asthma attack out on the playground and their couldn't get the inhaler out to him in time. I believe that the lawsuit is still pending on this one....

When I teach a first aid class at a school I always include this story and push the issue that they are punishing the asthmatic instead of the criminal. If the school policy is to keep the inhalers in the office, that policy is usually changed in short order after that story. I had one school that the teachers just about ripped an administor to shreds before he relented to let the inhalers stay with students.

The other incident invovles my neighbor's daughter. I recieved a phone call from my neighbor one day at lunch time asking me to go to the daughter's school to give her an asprin. The child had a headache and the school nurse could not give an asprin to her even tho the parent was requesting the nurse to give one to her child.

[BJungNan]

The nurse reported he lent the girl the inhaler... After she, the nurse, did absolutely nothing for five minutes as the girl gasped for air. Said the nurse, "She was turning a bit blue in complexion but when I started to see red is when a 15-year-old boy haD the nerve to lend her his inhaler."

Asked what she would have done if the boy had not been there with the inhaler, the nurse said, "We are well equiped with psycological support staff in the event something traggic would have happened."

[Oztrich Boy]

The child had a headache and the school nurse could not give an asprin to her even tho the parent was requesting the nurse to give one to her child.

And the reason they have a school nurse?











Strong union?

[fortunecookie]

A Montgomery County teenager, expelled from school for letting his girlfriend use his prescription asthma inhaler, will face no criminal charges

This article doesn't mention the 'prescription' by name, but other articles do - it's albuterol. They make it seem like he shared, irresponsibly, just any prescription with her. For those unfamiliar with asthma, albuterol is a standard, preformatted treatment, like a bottle of tylenol, each one is the same and usage is the same within certain parameters unlike say, an antibiotic with a more specific use, geared to one's physical attributes. And, believe me, any port in a storm. This young man should be commended for his quick thinking and compassionate behavior (he walked with her to the nurses office afterall). I'm sure the girlfriend and her family are happy. The nurse called it in!! How communist. I suppose it would be better for the girl to suffer longer, or worse. No charges are being filed, but he can only return to school after Christmas, more than 2 months from now??!! Gestapo is right. Better for him that he is homeschooled.

[ladylib]

And they have cops in the schools to arrest the kids also. A school official doesn't have to use common sense anymore or treat a kid as an individual. All he/she has to do is pick up the phone and call the cops. An 18-year-old clerical worker could do that for a lot less money.

The schools look like minimum security prisons. They have metal detectors, searches, pee tests (coming to all schools and to ALL students if certain people in the government have their way), cameras all over the place, and goon squads patrolling the halls.

Who is their right mind wants to send their child to a school run by a bunch of people who have no common sense, no sense of responsibility, and no accountability? "Duh, I was just following the zero-tolerance policy."

I guess it's just to condition the kids for what is coming if people don't wake up.