Teenager In Trouble In Inhaler Incident (Gives inhaler to asthma sufferer; gets expelled)

KPRC-TV/DT Houston ^ | 10.8.03

[mhking]

A teenager was disciplined for sharing medication used to treat asthma, but he said it saved his girlfriend's life, News2Houston reported Wednesday.

Andra Ferguson and her boyfriend, Brandon Kivi, both 15, use the same type of asthma medicine, Albuterol Inhalation Aerosol.

Ferguson said she forgot to bring her medication to their school, Caney Creek High School, on Sept. 24. When she had trouble breathing, she went to the nurse's office.

Out of concern, Kivi let her use his inhaler.

"I was trying to save her life. I didn't want her to die on me right there because the nurse's office (doesn't) have breathing machines," Kivi said.

"It made a big difference. It did save my life. It was a Good Samaritan act," Ferguson said.

But the school nurse said it was a violation of the district's no-tolerance drug policy, and reported Kivi to the campus police.

The next day, he was arrested and accused of delivering a dangerous drug. Kivi was also suspended from school for three days. He could face expulsion and sent to juvenile detention on juvenile drug charges.

The mothers of both teenagers are angry.

"My son will not go to jail. This is ridiculous," said Theresa Hock, Kivi's mother. "I believe he shouldn't be punished at all because he was helping her. She was in distress."

"If he hadn't helped her, she would have passed out or died or something because her asthma's been really bad this year," said Sandra Ferguson, Andra's mother.

The school principal said he couldn't do anything about it since Kivi not only broke school rules, but also allegedly violated state law.

"It's simply a matter that it's classified as a dangerous drug. It's an inhaler form, but yet, if it had been in pill form or any other, it's still classified as a dangerous drug," said Greg Poole, the Caney Creek principal.

"Would Caney Creek had want Andra to have died rather than my son to help her?" Hock said.

Poole said the nurse never considered Andra to be in a life-threatening situation.

The school district will hold a hearing on the matter Friday.

[mhking]

Just damn.

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[Robert A Cook PE]

But, of course, had the same kid expelled for giving a classmate an inhalor during an asthma attack had asked for an abortion (and NOT want to tell her parents!) this same school nurse would have/could have taken her across state lines to kill the baby ....

[Husker24]

Stupid kids, they dont yet realize that the state is supreme. If you have to choose between breaking the law and dieing, well then damnit! youd better die.

[Constitution Day]

I use this very same inhaler.

The principal, school nurse, and campus "police" are complete idiots...asthma CAN kill you.

[hobson]

These people are idiots!

They should put the principal and nurse in jail for stupidity.

[KarlInOhio]

Bunch of lousy coke pot Albuterol heads. < /sarcasm>

[Trailerpark Badass]

Stupid kids, they dont yet realize that the state is supreme. If you have to choose between breaking the law and dieing, well then damnit! youd better die.

The "grief counselors" must be having trouble finding work.

[Guillermo]

Zero Tolerance = no need to ever use your brain or common sense.

[Husker24]

Ill bet if this girl were dieing of an asthma attack and the Principal used the same inhaler himself, he would stand there and watch her die before he would let her use his inhaler............zero tolerance is absolute you know.

[xm177e2]

This is why kids should be allowed to bring guns to school.

[stands2reason]

It's simply a matter that it's classified as a dangerous drug.

Yeah, right.

[wizardoz]

Hey, that may be a loophole. If we can prove that inhalers are likely to cause a miscarriage, the boy can claim he was trying to help her obtain an abortion. Then they'll give him a medal.

[saint]

This kid doesn't need school. We need as many kids like him as we can get.

[Malsua]

Having turned blue many times due to Asthma as a child and nearly dying more times than I can count (Pre-inhaler days, had to get Adrenalin shot at hospital)...this is ridiculous.

I have an idea...everyone who has a problem with this kid sharing his inhaler should have a rag held over his/her mouth so he only gets about 10% of Oxygen they need.

After they agree that it is distressing beyond belief, they'll drop this nonsense. I know the panic, I know how helplessness you feel, I know it that even typing this brings images of my past. These ***kwits don't have a clue as to what it's like to drown in your own lungs in a classroom and have people scratch their heads.

This is complete idiocy.

[Recourse]

The nurse should be fired and the charges expunged. What a crock.

[Thinkin' Gal]

"It's simply a matter that it's classified as a dangerous drug. It's an inhaler form, but yet, if it had been in pill form or any other, it's still classified as a dangerous drug," said Greg Poole, the Caney Creek principal.

Why does this guy get a paycheck? And no doubt a pretty fat one at that. He doesn't want to think, he just points to a rule. A five year old could do that, all for a fresh box of crayons every couple of weeks.

[Drammach]

It's simply a matter that it's classified as a dangerous drug.

Again, a violation of State's Rights.
The Federal Government has no constitutional authority to make any drug legal or illegal.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Nope.

Giving a fellow student Aspirin also gets you kicked out.

Its the stupid, unthinking union administrators and teachers who can't think - and who WANT all-encompassing rules so they can hide behind "Sorry, I'm only doing my job, It's the rules" granola.