# Fatal stupidity - school keeps kid's asthma inhaler locked up
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 10, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003 "2013-12-10T18:51:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/41 "2013-12-11T08:36:32Z")
what principles? seems more like placing a greater priority on covering their asses than the welfare of their charge. justice would be to watch those asses burn.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/42 "2013-12-11T08:53:44Z")
They should have been charged with murder. I’m not even joking on this one. Completely unacceptable.
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### Author:  [@MaltLiquor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaltLiquor)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/43 "2013-12-11T09:10:42Z")
Asthma is horrible. To put an inhaler in the same category as other medicinces is just stupid, it is scary and is usually much more intense as a child.
I carried an inhaler since kindergarten, and protected it with my life because it was was my life. It made it possible for me to be as active as everyone else. It was there I used it if I got a small attack, from certain pollen, drastic temperature changes,…well that is about it for me but it can come on for no reason that you can pinpoint.
My niece got the go ahead to carry one around just this year in 5th grade, and she still uses the kid tube thing if you know what that is.
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### Author:  [@MaltLiquor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaltLiquor)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/44 "2013-12-11T09:34:27Z")
I am more pissed everytime I read another article on this. Who the hell are these teachers that didn’t recognize this? Astham is WAY more common now then when I was a kid. My teachers knew I had trouble, if I said something they did something about it. I got excused from recess (spent it in the library), and I only said something when it was bad or I knew it was going to get bad. Temperature changes are the worse, I do not even have a prescription for an inhaler anymore but in elementary school I was in the hospital getting shots of, crap, it started with a A, Alupent! Was on Slobid for long term, they didn’t have steroid inhalers and I do not like them. I was already on topical steroids as a kid for eczema so if they had them I think they didn’t want to mess me up too much.
Even if you don’t let the kid have it on them the teacher on duty for recess should have one…hell they all prescribe Pro Air now anyway which is the same as in my day …an Albuteral inhaler.
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### Author:  [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/45 "2013-12-11T10:48:03Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#):
>
> Provinces de nounou.
No, that’s Quebec and not Ontario.
Count me as another that would be fighting to have my child’s school change policy while alllowing (requiring) her to carry a spare with her at all times if she had asthma and damn the consequences.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/46 "2013-12-11T11:25:49Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#):
>
> salbuterol (trade name Ventolin)
Nitpick: Salbutamol. (Although, apparently, albuterol is the same thing.)
But, yeah, this is a truly insane policy, and it’s sad it took a death to get significant movement on changing it.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/47 "2013-12-11T19:40:54Z")
> [@Enderw24](#):
>
> Nanny provinces.
Better than “fuck you, I’ve got mine” provinces, in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/48 "2013-12-11T19:42:01Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> They should have been charged with murder. I’m not even joking on this one. Completely unacceptable.
Or negligent homicide anyway. Stupid school. Stupid administrators.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/49 "2013-12-11T20:02:06Z")
This happened more than a year ago. Does anyone know if criminal penalties were sought against anyone involved? How about a civil suit?
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/50 "2013-12-11T21:59:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> This happened more than a year ago. Does anyone know if criminal penalties were sought against anyone involved? How about a civil suit?
The death happened last year, but the story in the link isn’t really about the that. The story is about the mother currently pushing for new legislation. In other words the answer to both questions seems to be no.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/51 "2013-12-12T01:20:43Z")
> [@Tee](#):
>
> We did both. Or tried to. There was a national effort about ten years ago to bring awareness to the problem, and grant students the legal right to carry their inhalers and epi pens.
Okay, that makes sense, you want to fix the law, but you can’t let your kids die, so they carry inhalers and epi pens … JFC, _ **epi pens?** _ They took “die in minutes without a tracheotomy **epi pens** away from **children** ”?
I mean, I understand a kid can die without an inhaler, they don’t give kids epi pens easily, do they?
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### Author:  [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/52 "2013-12-12T03:17:18Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> I’m stunned to find out Canadians are this stupid. This kind of stupidity is usually American.
I’m not really surprised, education is one of those things that transends nationalities. Get a shit load of teachers, administrators and who ever else in the school system, have them pow wow at conferences and stuff, and they get to hear trends in schooling and such. Z Tolerance laws, may have started in the states, but they migrated up here, easily enough.
I dont know about front line teachers, but mostly the dumb decisions are coming down from the school boards and higher.
Declan
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/53 "2013-12-12T03:50:06Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> It’s not anywhere close to definitive but the comments on the reddit thread about it made it seem that it’s a widespread policy across the US, at least and the general response is to have a second secret inhaler that the student keeps hidden on them to use when necessary.
It is indeed common policy. When you get to middle school you can get paperwork saying you can have it with you (but the paperwork has to be signed by the doctor so it’s a huge hassle).
Same thing with Epi-Pens.
And to make it extra fun, the kids can’t even deliver them to school themselves - parents must do the dropoff, and must pick it up at the end of the year or they’ll be thrown out. :mad:
Thank god Dweezil never needed his epi-pen. I think there’s a pretty fair chance that if he’d had an anaphylactic reaction, he’d have died before they got him help.
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/54 "2013-12-12T16:15:12Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> And to make it extra fun, the kids can’t even deliver them to school themselves - parents must do the dropoff, and must pick it up at the end of the year or they’ll be thrown out. :mad:
How long are those things good for? I had an inhaler for a while a long time back, and it seems like they expired after a year or so, in which case you’d have to pitch the thing before the next school year started anyway. Am I misremembering, or maybe epipens have a much longer shelf life?
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/55 "2013-12-12T18:10:03Z")
I just checked my rescue inhaler (Ventolin), it has a manufacturing date of 2012, and an expiry date of 2015, so they’re good for a good long while, as long as you don’t get one that was close to expiry by the time the pharmacy handed it over to you.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/56 "2013-12-13T00:23:50Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> Same thing with Epi-Pens.
I just cannot understand this. Epi-pens are for bee-stings and peanuts, for heaven’s sake.
Maybe I don’t understand the treatments. In my experience, inhalers are used when the O2 - CO2 exchange in the lungs is inhibited, because the alveoli are swelling. The patients goes through shortness of breath to extreme ‘discomfort’ and possibly death. 100 % A Bad Thing.
Epi-pens are used when every damned tissue in your body swells up including your throat. We are not talking inhibit exchange of gas, but complete restriction of air-flow.
I thought epi-pens were used only in the highest risk situation.
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/57 "2013-12-13T02:19:37Z")
> [@j666](#):
>
> I just cannot understand this. Epi-pens are for bee-stings and peanuts, for heaven’s sake.
Now wait a sec. Epi-pens are not a “light” drug. They should only be used in “OH SHIT!” situations. Used only when anaphylactic shock is imminent. It’s adrenalin. Epinephrin is literally adrenalin. If a healthy kid gets stuck with one he’s going to go in to tachycardia and need to go to the ER. I _guarantee_ you that if if you got stuck with an epi-pen you would be layed out real quick.
I’m not saying that kids with severe asthma shouldn’t carry them, but what I am saying is epi-pens are very, _very_ powerful drugs.
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### Author:  [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/58 "2013-12-13T02:34:46Z")
Can’t understand the way some schools carry on.
A few years ago when I was helping to run a school outdoors group we were informed by one of the schools that we shouldn’t have an inhaler in our official group first-aid kit.
My reaction was “fine, but I’ll carry one in both my personal hiking kit and have one in my base kit”. When you’re at least 2 hours drive from any kind of serious medical help you can’t mess around.
Hell, our part of our equipment check before we left on any hike or camp was:
[ul]
[li]wet-weather gear[/li][li]broad-brimmed hat[/li][li]survival kit[/li][li]3 - 4L of water[/li][li]anyone on prescription medication - if so please let our designated first-aid peron know.[/li][li]If you have asthma - _do you have your inhaler **on you** _?[/li][/ul]
At least once we delayed our departure so a kid could get their parent to bring their inhaler in.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/59 "2013-12-13T03:22:04Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#):
>
> Now wait a sec. Epi-pens are not a “light” drug. They should only be used in “OH SHIT!” situations. …
> I’m not saying that kids with severe asthma shouldn’t carry them, but what I am saying is epi-pens are very, _very_ powerful drugs.
??
That was my point.
(Did you think I meant “bee-stings and peanut-butter” as trivial allergies? There is no such thing as a trivial systemic allergy, I know. I meant bee-stings and peanut-butter aw examples of common allergies [most] people know can kill very quickly.)
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatal-stupidity-school-keeps-kids-asthma-inhaler-locked-up/676003/60 "2013-12-13T03:58:30Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Can’t understand the way some schools carry on.
There’s all sorts of reasons. Zero-tolerance bureaucratic thinking; there’s no need for judgement, just apply a rule absolutely and without exceptions. Anti-drug fanaticism; such fanatics often don’t care if the drug in question is a medicine, Drugs Are Evil. Control freakishness; some people just get off on controlling others. Bigotry; the teacher or school doesn’t like some group the student in question belongs to and selectively enforces such rules to harass them. And of course plain old malice; plenty of teachers and school administrators have always been outright cruel and abusive to students whenever they could get away with it.
That’s just off the top of my head; I’m sure there’s others.
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