More than a dozen nurses have been sacked and another disciplined at a Washington state children’s hospital after a 12-year-old patient took her own life at the facility.
Sarah Niyimbona, a compassionate, “outspoken” middle schooler, died April 13 after slipping out of her room at Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane and jumping from the fourth floor of a parking garage, according to a report.
Niyimbona had been admitted to the emergency room multiple times in 2024 for suicide attempts, The Spokesman-Review said.
The hospital allegedly removed key safety measures despite her history of self-harm — including a round-the-clock sitter, a video monitor and a door alarm — and failed to properly supervise her the night she died, Investigate West reported, citing a lawsuit filed by the family.
“I ask what happened. How come she left the room without anybody seeing her? How come she walked all the way to the elevator without anybody seeing her?” her mother, Nasra Gertrude, told the outlet. “They haven’t given me any answer at all. I trusted this hospital to take care of my daughter.”