A nurse practitioner denied multiple ambulance requests from the mother of an 8-year-old migrant child who later died in U.S. custody, authorities said on Thursday.
The child and her family were in Border Patrol custody at Harlingen Station in Texas last month when she experienced a medical emergency and was transported to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The family, who crossed the border near Brownsville, Texas, in early May, was transferred to the Harlingen Station facility after the young girl was diagnosed with the flu.
Medical personnel at Harlingen had nine encounters with the girl and her mother over the three days they were there, according to the most recent update by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
They continued to administer flu medication and treated the girl’s fever, which peaked at 104.9 degrees Fahrenheit, CBP said.
“Despite the girl’s condition, her mother’s concerns, and the series of treatments required to manage her condition, contracted medical personnel did not transfer her to a hospital for higher-level care,” the agency said.
A nurse practitioner saw the 8-year-old girl four times on May 17, as she complained of a stomachache, nausea and difficulty breathing. However, the nurse denied three or four requests from the mother for an ambulance.
Later that day, the mother returned to the health unit with her daughter, who appeared to be having a seizure, and they were transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
None of the personnel at Harlingen said they were aware that the girl suffered from sickle cell anemia or had a history of congenital heart disease, according to CBP. The agency also noted that medical personnel did not consult with on-call physicians and failed to document numerous encounters and interventions.
“They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe,” the girl’s mother, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, told Press last month. “She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her.”