Mom Of Special Needs Student Tube-Fed With Bleach Sues Fresno Unified School District

The mother of a special needs student who ingested bleach has lodged a lawsuit against the Fresno Unified School District. Cindy Garcia's 10-year-old daughter, who attended the Addicott Elementary for students with disabilities, suffered permanent damage as a result of the incident that took place in September.

Garcia filed the lawsuit on Jan. 12 citing the school district for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress for both the child and the mother, according to the court documents. The identity of who was responsible for giving Garcia's daughter bleach, however, was not determined, hence the mom is holding the school district accountable.

According to Fresno Bee, Garcia's daughter and another special needs child ingested the bleach via their feeding tubes, which are usually cleaned with warm water. Someone, however, used bleach when it's highly discouraged as it would cause critical health issues like chest pain, lowered blood pressure, nausea or even death.

When Garcia's daughter used her tubes, she was unable to communicate that something was off. She ended up vomiting and turning blue, and it was only then that she was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

School officials alerted Garcia about what happened to her daughter. They didn't, however, tell her that her daughter ingested bleach until Garcia herself smelled traces of it as she checked on her child.

The mom alleged that the school deliberately kept this information from her, thus her lawsuit stated that the school acted "oppressive, malicious, despicable and fraudulent." Garcia's daughter incurred lasting damage to her esophagus, lungs, stomach and trachea, and had aspiration pneumonia, CBS Sacramento reported. The lawsuit did not indicate how much Garcia is demanding from the school district as compensation for damages.

About 50 special needs students with severe disabilities are studying in Addicott Elementary. The school employs two health assistants, five vocational nurses with license and one registered nurse.