According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, two Monument middle school students are facing expulsion after one loaned the other her asthma inhaler because she thought the girl was having an attack.
Breana Crites says she was short of breath during a physical education class last week and thought the inhaler would help.
Alyssa McKinney says she didn’t know Crites did not have a prescription for the medication.
Press reports from KOAA-TV (http://bit.ly/ybmbDZ ), reflects that the nurse found out and both 8th graders were suspended for 10 days. They are also facing expulsion.
According to KOAA-TV, “I was really out of breath and I started panicking which made it even worse. Alyssa asked me if I was alright and I thought I had an asthma attack so that’s what I told her so she offered me her inhaler and I took it,” Crites says.
But she’s never been diagnosed with asthma and does not have a prescription for an inhaler. When the nurse found out she used her friends inhaler, both 8th graders were suspended for 10 days and are still facing expulsion.
“I thought I was having an asthma attack and so I thought the inhaler would help me and she was just trying to be a good friend and help out,” Crites says.
Both girls say it was an innocent and honest mistake and that they’ve definitely learned their lesson.
Alyssa McKinney says, “I wouldn’t have given it to her if I would have known and I feel bad for giving it to her.”
Now the girls say they just hope they can come back to school and their parents say they hope the school will use this experience as a teaching opportunity and give their children a second chance, because afterall, this is the first time either has ever been in trouble.
We also wanted to get an experts opinion on sharing inhalers. Dr. Daniel Soteres says if Crites had an allergy or heart condition, the medicine in the inhaler could have been very dangerous.
“Cardiac problems can cause shortness of breath, and Albuterol, the treatment we use for asthma attacks could make that worse,” he says.
He says asthma is very common, with 6.5%of adults in Colorado diagnosed 9% percent of children. He also says 10 people in the United States die of an attack every day.
This is ridiculous. Punishment is not the way to teach these girls about proper medical behavior. But that’s not really what this is about. When will this discipline-happy class of people ever get it into their heads that zero-tolerance policies are crap. They would have learned their medical “lesson” just as well by being told, “Bad idea, girls. Next time call the school nurse (if there is one) and see a doctor.” The school authorities should be ashamed of themselves.