A Washington children’s hospital sacked 15 nurses after a 12-year-old patient killed herself at the facility where she was advised to have 24-hour supervision, reports KGNS News.
According to a filed lawsuit, on the night of 13 April, the girl, Sarah Niyimbona, left her room in the Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital and died after jumping off a parking garage roof.
Since 2024, the girl had repeatedly been admitted to the hospital’s emergency department because of multiple attempts to commit suicide.
Despite the need for her 24-hour monitoring, the healthcare worker assigned to monitor her was removed by the hospital, along with the video monitoring system from her room.
On the night in question, the lawsuit accuses the staff of failing to supervise the child, allowing her to escape in the early evening to walk freely throughout the hospital.
When she reached the fourth floor of the hospital’s parking structure, she jumped off, suffering catastrophic injuries.
Fifteen nurses have since been fired, and one nurse was disciplined after being questioned over how the girl was able to leave her room undetected.
According to multiple reports, the nurses had also improperly accessed the girl’s medical records without being directly involved in her care, a potential violation of the federal health privacy law.
The union said the nurses have filed a grievance, a process that “could take a long time” to resolve.
The young patient was remembered on a GoFundMe page as a “shining light” who “touched the hearts of everyone she met.”
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