Nurse who said 'you did this' while withholding 3-year-old's breathing tube as she gasped for air has a 'long history of abusing infants': Lawsuit

A Pennsylvania location wellness attraction institution ignored a nurse's "long history" of abusing young children which led to her slamming a 3-year-old successful her attraction and withholding the girl's breathing tube arsenic she gasped for air, a suit alleges.

David and Meredith Nastasi filed a negligence suit against Lincoln Healthcare Services LLC, which is doing concern arsenic Team Select Home Care, and 58-year-old Cindy Desser, who is besides facing a complaint of endangering the payment of a child for her alleged attraction of the plaintiffs' girl identified successful the suit arsenic Z.N.

Per the lawsuit, the miss was calved astatine the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia successful October 2023 with galore ailments including missing her little fractional of her near ribs, abdominal muscles and her near lung. She spent immoderate 9 months successful the hospital, undergoing six important surgeries. Once she made it location successful precocious 2024, she was ventilator babelike and successful request of round-the-clock nursing care.

The Nastasis hired Team Select which sent Desser to service arsenic a nighttime nurse.

"Z.N. was medically fragile and aft each she had been done to conscionable marque it home, Z.N. needed to beryllium cared for by nurses who were compassionate, kind, and attentive to her needs," the suit said. "Instead, Team Select sent a monster named Cindy Desser … into Plaintiffs' home."

On the nighttime of May 25, the plaintiffs allege, Desser "repeatedly choke slammed" the miss with "such unit that it rattled Z.N.'s crib and knocked implicit aesculapian monitoring equipment."

"Upon accusation and belief, Desser had a agelong past of abusing infants successful her attraction and had worked stints with galore different location wellness attraction companies that had either fired Desser oregon separated from Desser connected mediocre presumption by the clip she was hired by Team Select successful precocious 2024," the suit states. "Desser's maltreatment of Z.N. was not the archetypal clip she had done this, and tragically it was not the last. While Desser was retired connected bail for the transgression charges stemming from her onslaught connected Z.N., she someway managed to get employment with yet different location wellness attraction bureau and abused different medically fragile toddler successful Bucks County."

Jeffrey P. Goodman of Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky who is representing the plaintiffs argues that Team Select knew oregon should person known that Desser was "morally unfit to attraction for children." Goodman besides alleges that Desser often fell dormant connected the occupation which caused her to miss important aesculapian alarms.

On 1 occasion, Meredith Nastasi had to "rush into" her daughter's country to aftermath up Desser, who was dormant with headphones connected arsenic an audible alert was going disconnected that the girl's oxygen levels were beneath 85 percent, the suit stated.

The parents besides complained that Desser allegedly wasn't logging capable information into the strategy astir the girl's spiking vitals during the nurse's shifts. Team Select ignored the parents' concerns and ne'er addressed them with Desser, according to the lawsuit.

"David and Meredith Nastasi enactment their spot successful the hands of a caregiver whom Team Select represented to beryllium compassionate and susceptible of safely caring for Z.N. Instead, Team Select sent a monster into their home. This is each parent's worst nightmare," Goodman said successful a statement.

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As Law&Crime previously reported, a probable origin apprehension affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said Desser served arsenic an overnight caregiver for the miss astatine the family's location connected Locust Avenue successful Bensalem, a Philadelphia suburb. In October, the girl's parent noticed immoderate bruising connected her interior thigh portion she was changing her daughter's diaper.

The ma took the miss to a hospital, wherever doctors determined the bruise was successful the signifier of a thumb print.

When the parents reviewed surveillance camera footage from the girl's room, Desser was allegedly seen slapping the miss connected aggregate occasions. She besides allegedly "aggressively" threw the miss astir her crib. One time, the miss seemingly pulled retired her tracheostomy tube. The video allegedly showed Desser "taking her time" putting the conduit backmost in, earlier saying "you did this" portion the miss was "gasping for air." Desser was besides seen sleeping connected the job, per the complaint.

The suspect works for Dynamic Home Health Care. Cops noted that she was besides successful usurpation of respective of the company's rules and ethics.

The girl's parents, who wished to stay anonymous, spoke with section ABC affiliate WPVI. They told the outlet that Desser appealed to them due to the fact that she had 20 years of acquisition and took attraction of different kid who had the aforesaid lung illness arsenic the girl. The miss was calved prematurely and weighed conscionable 14 ounces astatine commencement and is successful request of peculiar aesculapian care.

"She likes nights," the ma told WPVI astir Desser. "You don't find that. It was astir similar excessively bully to beryllium true."

Unfortunately for the miss and her parents, it appears that it was.

Watching the video of their girl gasping for aerial aft Desser allegedly withheld her tracheostomy conduit was particularly hard.

"This was the astir disturbing one. Thank God my girl is truthful strong," the parent told the outlet. "It was conscionable horrific. I conscionable couldn't judge it. It's similar astir similar monsters travel retired astatine night."

The begetter called the full concern a nightmare. Another alleged incidental besides stood retired to him.

"All our small miss did was beryllium up and look astatine her for a infinitesimal and she got shoved to the ground. It's truly sick and horrible," helium said.

He hopes Desser loses her nursing licence and faces justice.

"I conscionable anticipation she gets to beryllium successful a country with different radical that did atrocious things," helium told WPVI. "A snake tin shed its tegument truthful galore times and it's inactive a snake. So, you gotta ticker out."

WPVI reports that Desser has since been fired from her job. Her adjacent tribunal day is acceptable for April 7.