Earlier this year a 14-year-old Ohio girl with cerebral palsy died of while in the care of her nurse. This past month, the nurse who was attending to the girl surrendered her nursing license. According to Ohio Board of Nursing records, she had been licensed since July 1994. The surrender will make it impossible for her to ever be licensed in Ohio again. Prior to the girl's death she had cared for the girl for 10 years.

The corner determined the cause of the girl's death to be her illness combined with medical neglect and nutritional neglect. At the time of her death the girl weighed 28 pounds. The death was ruled a homicide last month by the coroner at the completion of laboratory tests and the autopsy. The head of the Dayton homicide unit has indicated that at least one person was involved in the girl's death and that criminal charges are in the works. So far however, no one has been charged in her death.

Regardless of whether the nurse is criminally charged in this case, she could face civil charges relating to the girl's death. A wrongful death lawsuit could be instituted by the girl's family against her if her behavior is deemed to be negligent and that it contributed to the girl's death. In addition to holding the responsible party accountable, this type of lawsuit provides the necessary resources to the deceased's loved ones so that they can possibly more easily work through their grief and move forward with their lives.

Source: Dayton Daily News, "Nurse for malnourished child who died surrenders license," Lou Grieco, Oct. 14, 2011