A School Denied A Sick 9 Year Old Girl The Use Of Her Inhaler Because Rules Are Rules

FOX- A 9-year-old girl was denied her inhaler during a coughing fit at school in West Jordan because staff were not notified of the child's prescription, Jordan School District officials said Monday.Emma Gonzales obtained an inhaler over the weekend after a coughing fit landed her in the emergency room, KSTU reports.

On Monday, the fourth grader was hit with another coughing spell in class at Columbia Elementary. When Emma took her inhaler out to use it, her teacher sent her to the office, where staff took the inhaler.

Emma said she started coughing so hard she threw up on her pants.

"When I get into the coughing fit, I kind of hurtle up on the ground, can't breathe and then I start to kind of feel a little nauseous," Emma said.

District officials say the staff did everything right by taking the medication to make sure it was for that specific student.

The inhaler doesn't have Emma's name on it and the school had not been notified that she was taking the medication.


There has to be an inverse correlation between the amount of rules in society and the presence of common sense in society, right? It's almost like every single new rule that gets instituted, specifically in school districts, is just another excuse for teachers and administrators to do less critical thinking. I understand that schools shouldn't endorse kids running around sticking their inhalers in each other's mouths, but a hard-and-fast rule seems just a tad bit excessive. I mean that shit used to happen ALL THE TIME back in my day. Inhalers were like the 4th grade versions of joints, but I don't remember too many problems resulting from puff-puff-passing. These kids aren't borrowing crack pipes. They aren't sharing needles. It's just asthma medication. It's still not the most health conscious thing to be doing, but little kids are going to spread their diseases to each other whether they are sharing a mouthpiece or not. On the other hand, withholding an inhaler when the girl who owns it, but doesn't have it registered, is puking on her shoes seems a lot more hazardous to the health of a student then getting the common cold.

This shouldn't be that complicated. Forget the fact that this girl lost her lunch from nausea. I wasn't even there and before I read the part about her getting sick I knew that this girl needed her inhaler. You know why? Because if the alternative of going to the Principal's office was giving the inhaler back to it's rightful owner and going about her day then she surely would have choose that. No one wants to go to Principal's office, and they certainly don't want to go when they know they are wrong. Shit, being sent to the Principal's office as a 9 year old was like the worst feeling in the world. That was more stomach churning then getting called into your bosses office when you know you've been slacking on the job. Everyone had a teacher or two that got along well with, but did anyone has a Principal they got along with? Hell no. You treated the Principal like he was some combination of a federal judge and a homeless dude passing you in a dark alley. You respected his presence, but you avoided eye contact at all costs. In elementary school you thought your principal actually had power. You didn't realize he was just a glorified teacher that wore a suit and had his (or her) own office. At some point you just have ignore the presence of a stupid rule and use your brain to realize that no 9 year old kid is going to the Principal to prove an inhaler is theirs unless it's actually theirs. Could have just wrote Emma's name on it and registered that bad boy, but you had to go zero tolerance and now the only thing spreading virally is your inability to think rationally.