Laporshia Massey's family seeks damages in court
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Laporshia Massey
Sixth grader Laporshia Massey died after falling ill from an asthma attack while no nurse was on duty at Bryant Elementary School last September. Now, her estate is suing the School District in federal court.
The School District of Philadelphia never publicly announced Massey's death. It was first uncovered by City Paper two weeks after it took place, drawing widespread attention to Gov. Tom Corbett's deep education budget cuts and the resulting mass layoff of nurses. Corbett soon thereafter released $45 million in federal dollars he had withheld on the condition of teachers' union concessions, though he explicitly denied any connection.
At the time, there were 179 District nurses working in public, private and parochial schools in the city, down from 289 in 2011. In May, first-grader Sebastian Gerena died of a rare congenital heart defect; though the chances of saving Gerena under any circumstances might have been slim, his death refocused attention on the everyday danger faced by students who attend schools without nurses.
Now, Massey's estate has filed a wrongful death and is seeking $150,000 in damages. In November, City Paper was told by sources close to a city investigation into the death that Massey's father, Daniel Burch, took her to the hospital later than he had previously claimed and recently failed to fill an asthma-related prescription for her. At the time, Burch's lawyer disputed the allegations, but the investigation has never been made public. If the city goes to trial and refuses to settle with the Massey estate, more information will likely be released.
