Family criticizes Half Hollow Hills School District's response to daughter's allergic reaction
DIX HILLS, N.Y. -- A Long Island family is pleading for accountability after they say their daughter nearly died at her junior prom.
The family says that instead of rending aid to their daughter, administrators questioned her about drug abuse.
They say the delay in treatment for a nut allergy could have been life threatening.
Arianna Varghese of Dix Hills showed CBS2 her hospital bracelet and photos of her evening in the emergency room, following a junior prom she would rather forget.
"I really like didn't know if I was going to die that night," the 17-year-old said.
Her high school sponsored event at Half Hollow Hills West included dessert, which she ate.
"I was like, did anything have any nuts in it, like any or peanuts, any tree nuts? And he answered, 'Yes, the while chocolate macadamia cookie,'" Varghese said.
She said she suddenly stumbled into the bathroom, assisted by a friend, was dizzy and vomiting, and that her throat was quickly closing.
"One of the administrators came in and she was like, "What's going on? What drugs are you guys taking?'" Varghese said.
She said he friend called out "allergic shock." Varghese made it to the nurse's office, but claims staff was more interested in what drugs or alcohol she might have ingested.
"Then they took my bag and searched my bag, while I'm like struggling, so I called my dad," Varghese said.
"I walked in, saw my baby on the floor collapsed, vomiting. I said, 'How far away is the ambulance?' And she said, 'We are going to call now,'" Daniel Varghese said.
He claims he brought an EpiPen to the school that helped revive his daughter who he says was in anaphylactic shock.
The district says there was immediate medical attention -- treatment for an allergic reaction, including Benadryl and EpiPen.
The district says from the time the nurse was called and began treating the child, to the time first responders arrived, approximately 15 minutes had passed.
"8:32 p.m., she gives me the call, so there is a huge, huge time gap from the time of ingesting to time of treatment. Basic life-saving treatment was denied to her because they were more worried about what drug she was taking," Daniel Varghese said.
Arianna Varghese says going forward she will have allergic identification and Epinephrine with her at all times. Her father hopes going public with their story will educate the community about health risks in our schools.
The Half Hollow Hills School District issued the following statement:
"As the health and well-being of our students in Half Hollow Hills is always a priority, we have a school nurse on site for large-scale evening events, including our Junior Social at High School West. When our nurse was notified that this student was ill, she acted immediately. The nurse began evaluating the student's vitals, asked questions to assess what care was needed, began treatment for an allergic reaction including the administration of Benadryl and a non-patient-specific EpiPen, and contacted the student's parents and first responders. From the time the nurse was called and began treating the child to the time first responders arrived, approximately 15 minutes had passed. We are thankful that our student has recovered and returned to school."