We had a seven-year-old drop dead in school Wednesday. There was a volunteer nurse that day who performed CPR, but he died anyway. I read today that he and his family lived in a West Philadelphia homeless shelter.
A spokesman for the city Health Department declined to release the cause of death yesterday, citing privacy issues. “We saw nothing in the autopsy to suggest this is an infectious disease or condition,” James Garrow said.
The school has a nurse on Thursdays and every other Friday, the district said.
I don’t know that anyone could have prevented this child’s death, but it would be good to have those resources in case they might.
So what your asking for in a rather sweet way is for our city employees to cough up the goods? That this child died is a tragedy for the parents and the community. How this child died is a question that must be answered. For the sake of the parents and the community. The question then becomes how the privacy laws are written and if they need to be rewritten. As citizens it is our duty to find out. For the sake of the child.
OK, no infectious disease or condition, but 7 year-old kids don’t just drop dead . . . how about untreated disease or medical condition??