Over a dozen nurses were out of jobs after the tragic passing of a 12-year-old girl at their hospital.
“I trusted this hospital to take care of my daughter,” said heartbroken mother Nasra Gertrude, who desperately wanted to know how her daughter Sarah June Niyimbona was left unsupervised, despite so many warning signs.
Since Sarah’s passing, the hospital fired 15 nurses and disciplined another.
Highlights
- The tragic passing of a 12-year-old girl has put a hospital in Washington state under the spotlight.
- The child, Sarah June Niyimbona, left her room alone and took her life within the hospital premises.
- “Mom, I want to come home. I don’t like it here,” the child told her mom the day before her passing.
- The hospital fired 15 nurses following the incident.
Over a dozen nurses were out of jobs after the tragic passing of a 12-year-old girl at their hospital
Image credits: Eric Johnson / Facebook
Trigger warning: This article contains details of self-harm and loss of life under tragic circumstances
Two 911 calls were made after Sarah’s injured body was found on the concrete floor, within the hospital premises, on April 13.
Her mother was by her side shortly after, begging her to wake up.
“I ask what happened,” she told The Spokesman-Review. “How come she left the room without anybody seeing her?”
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
For the last three months of her life, Sarah was isolated in Room 350 at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane, in Washington state.
She spent her days watching Friends and writing in her journal.
“Mom, I want to come home. I don’t like it here. I’m tired of being here,” her mother remembered her daughter saying over the phone the day before her passing.
“Mom, I want to come home. I don’t like it here,” the child told her mom the day before her passing
Image credits: GoFundMe
On April 13, Sarah managed to leave her room, ride down an elevator, and walk a quarter-mile to the fourth floor of a parking structure at around 5:30 p.m.
The 12-year-old girl then jumped and landed on the concrete floor, four stories below.
She passed away two hours later in the emergency room.
“[We] want to know why there wasn’t anyone there at the moment, why there was nobody watching her, and how she was able to leave. We don’t really know anything. We don’t have any of the answers,” Sarah’s sister Asha Joseph said in May.
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
Sarah was the third of six children born to Nasra, who said the child’s father wasn’t present when she was alive.
The mother and her children lived in a Spokane apartment until a fire displaced them and forced them to move to Cheney for the city’s cheaper cost of living.
Until the move in 2023, Sarah was a happy, friendly, and welcoming child. However, students began bullying her and calling her “big,” “ugly,” and “a giraffe” when she joined Cheney Middle School, her mother said.
Another 14-year-old girl apparently joined a pact with Sarah to end their lives together, the mother said
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
After Sarah was found harming herself, she went in and out of treatment facilities several times.
“She would tell me that she does not know why she’s feeling this way. Sometimes she would tell me it is because of friends’ bad influence,” the mother told the Spokesman-Review.
“Sometimes she will tell me that she wants me home. That I work a lot,” she added. “Sometimes she’ll say, ‘I want my dad in my life. I want to see my dad when my dad is not in my life.’”
Image credits: GoFundMe
Sarah’s passing raised numerous questions about how nobody noticed her leaving her hospital room on April 13.
When she used to make threats and attempt self-harm, she had at least one “sitter” designated to monitor her around the clock and make sure she didn’t leave or hurt herself.
Sarah would tell her mother multiple reasons for why she thought of self-harm
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
At one point, Sarah had an extra remote sitter who watched her through a camera in her hospital room. But the camera was removed a few weeks before her passing.
Furthermore, the hospital removed her designated “sitter” in early April after Sarah wrote in her journal that she couldn’t wait to return home.
But she never returned home and jumped from the fourth floor days later.
Image credits: KREM 2 News / YouTube
Immediately after her passing, Sarah's sister Asha said it felt like the hospital was trying to hide something.
“It felt like, in a way, the hospital is kind of trying to, I don’t know, cover up something or hide something,” Asha told PBS in May. “It just doesn’t make sense. There’s really no information on anything.”
The hospital removed Sarah’s designated “sitter” just days before she jumped from the fourth floor
Image credits: GoFundMe
Staff members of the hospital claimed they felt pressured to keep things quiet after the tragic incident.
On the night of Sarah's passing, they also reportedly received a hospital-wide email asking the staff to avoid posting about the incident or sharing public comments.
Image credits: GoFundMe
As the investigation into Sarah’s passing continues, the hospital fired 15 nurses, saying each termination was for “patient privacy violations.”
“We review employee conduct and take appropriate action, including termination of employment, where warranted. Patient privacy is one of our top priorities,” according to a statement provided by hospital spokesperson Jen York.
Nurses claimed the hospital fired 15 nurses in retaliation for speaking to the media
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Nurses alleged that the hospital fired the 15 staffers in retaliation for speaking to the media about the girl’s passing.
Their union, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), filed a grievance against the hospital.
“We think this was done in retaliation for the stories that were written,” WSNA spokesperson Bobbi Nodell said about the hospital firing 15 nurses.
If you or someone you know is struggling with self-harm, help is available: International Hotlines
“This is so heartbreaking,” netizens said about Sarah’s story
