Virginia’s Chesterfield County police have determined that there was no criminal negligence on the part of the school personnel in the tragic food-allergy death of 7-year-old Amarria Johnson on January 2.
Also cleared of criminal wrongdoing, thankfully, was the child on the school playground who, not knowing of the allergy, handed Amarria the fateful peanut – which Amarria then popped in her mouth and swallowed. I can only imagine the particular hell that child, and also the teacher and health-clinic aide who attempted to help Amarria in the short period before her death all must feel today.
Of course, I wish they had all acted differently that day. I especially wish that clinic aide had taken one of the auto-injectors available at the school, but prescribed to other children, and ripped off the safety cap, injected it into Amarria’s thigh as she descended into anaphylaxis – an injection that most likely would have saved her life. But it was against the school’s rules to do so, possibly against the law as epinephrine in Virginia, as in so many states, can be taken to school, but can only be administered to the person named on the prescription label.
In the online aftermath of this tragedy, some are admonishing Amarria’s mother Laura Pendleton, asking why she hadn’t provided an epinephrine auto-injector to the school. But I can’t find it in my heart to blame a mother mourning the loss of her little girl. In her shoes, what mother wouldn’t already be plagued by self-recrimination and “if only I hads”. Besides, we don’t even know whether it was the school’s fault or Pendleton’s oversight that Amarria didn’t have an auto-injector at school.
As CNN reported, Pendleton has said she asked a school official about sending an auto-injector in with her daughter, but was told, no, please just keep it at home. The school has said only that there was no device provided for the child. It gets murky and he said/she said. The only point of raising this is: a big part of the preventing future tragedies has to be that epinephrine is available at all times to any child at risk of anaphylaxis at school.
Now here’s where I do find fault, with all of us as an allergy community and with the lack of communication about the importance of the auto-injector, most commonly known being the EpiPen brand. As a community of parents and advocates, we spend an awful lot of time talking about the fact that an allergen like peanut can kill, but we don’t give equal time to talking about epinephrine, the drug that can turn off the anaphylactic reaction like a faucet.
Nor do we remember that we need to continuously impress upon others the relative safety of that drug and, thirdly, the absolute need for speed when a food or sting allergy reaction is in progress. We grow so familiar with this knowledge that we at times forget to share it. Let’s consciously change that.
Next: A lifesaver of a drug
Sarah
I couldn’t agree more. Whenever I’m showing someone how to use the EpiPen for my son, the first thing I say is “This WILL save his life”. I don’t ever want anyone being afraid or doubtful to use it. We do talk a lot about prevention, but we need to talk just as much about what to do if that prevention fails.
Laine
I’m sorry. It seems the first line of defense, the child herself had no concept of avoidance, not her fault of course. Was it really an obvious peanut that she popped in her mouth? At age 7 she was certainly old enough to be taught not to ingest her allergen or any mystery food, no matter how well meaning the giver. Of course, a 7 year old brain might overrule her training, but it seems unlikely she was trained properly as the mother herself seemed not to know that an EpiPen was a critical back up and useless if not accessible to a knowledgeable caretaker including school staff. Are bereaved mothers to be excused if their negligence contributed to their child’s death?
Secondly, were teachers properly trained about the life and death difference an EpiPen can make? Because one of them should have grabbed another child’s EpiPen, legal consequences be damned. The phrase I use when demonstrating an EpiPen to someone is: “It’s safer to use it than not use it”. Properly trained people should understand that there is a miniscule chance of doing harm by injecting an EpiPen but a very big chance of condemning someone to death if they do NOT use it. Either the teachers at this school did not understand these relative risks or chose to avoid possible legal consequences for themselves at the expense of a child’s life. Yes, this was a tragedy, doubly so as it was preventable by adults who did not do their job of protecting a child properly.
Peanut Free Zone
Thanks for writing this article – everyone needs to hear this story to make sure it never happens again. It’s so sad that her life could have easily been saved…we need to make sure this law gets changed and quick!
Billie
Just wanted to chime in about the little girl not refusing the food she was given. Our kids (mine is 6) are great advocates for themselves, given the right tools from us parents, but at the end of the day, they are just children. They are children that want to be like everyone else. Now, also, I have pulled out some different types of nuts (peanuts and tree nuts alike) and showed them to my daughter…she could identify only a small amount as being a “tree nut” or peanut. Add in the fact that one nut can be shaped significantly differently than others and you’re in a whole new ballgame here.
My daughter is pretty good about refusing food, but well meaning adults are always trying to give her things at school and sometimes she accepts them. These well meaning adults have read the label and feel confident in what they’re doing and BELIEVE me, they hear from me EACH and EVERY time, but that’s the risk of having our kids in school. I know that they will learn, most now send the treat home with an ingredient label that they’ve photo-copied for me. I typically trash the treat regardless.
I LOVE that Chicago is getting “stock Epi” though!!! I think we’re making the right kind of waves here…and will continue to do so. :)