Lawsuit: Special-Needs Student Fed Bleach Through Tube

FRESNO (CBS13) — A mother is suing a school district after someone allegedly fed her special-needs child bleach through a tube.

The lawsuit filed on Thursday says the fifth-grader was administered bleach through a gastrostomy tube on Sept. 19. The alleged incident occurred at Irwin O. Addicott Elementary School during school hours.

The suit alleges no attempt was made to contact medical authorities, to 911, or poison control after it happened.

The mother is seeking for the Fresno Unified School District to cover past and future medical expenses. The exact amount is unspecified. After the incident, the student suffered aspiration pneumonia as well as "permanent impairment to her trachea, esophagus, stomach and lungs."

No specific employee was named in the complaint as the person who administered the bleach.

Among the accusations, the mother says the district was negligent in trying to contact her, despite the girl "vomiting white chunks, turning purple and becoming otherwise and apparently ill." That message, the suit says, was conveyed in a voicemail with no mention of the bleach. She says she only learned of it when she smelled the odor when she was checking on her daughter.

The lawsuit also alleges feeding supplies were stored in such a way they could be confused with cleaning supplies, leading to the alleged bleach mixup.