Mom didn’t take child to hospital for infection, Nebraska cops say. She’s arrested
.jpg "A mother told a local emergency room she would take her 2-year-old to another hospital for specialized care, but they never showed up, Nebraska police said.")
A mother accused of child abuse failed to take her sick toddler to another hospital, Nebraska cops said.
The woman took her 2-year-old child to an emergency room in Grand Island, where staff determined the toddler needed to go to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for specialized care, police told McClatchy News.
The child had a rare blood infection, according to police, and the Omaha hospital was able to treat it.
The Grand Island hospital wanted to transport the child by ambulance, but the toddler’s mom said she would drive and left the hospital, police said.
Several hours later, the Omaha hospital called Grand Island police saying the child never arrived. They requested a welfare check.
When police arrived at the mother’s home, she told officers they were in the process of leaving for the Omaha hospital, Capt. Dean Elliott told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
The woman said she was doing laundry and having car troubles, police told KSNB.
Police left, but later received a second call from the Omaha hospital saying the child never showed.
This time, officers said they couldn’t find the mother or child when they went to do the welfare check. Officers contacted family members attempting to locate her, police said.
The mother returned with the child to the emergency room in Grand Island later that day, about 16 hours after she originally took the child to the emergency room, police said.
The toddler’s condition had worsened, so the 2-year-old was flown to the Omaha hospital, police said.
The mother was arrested and charged with child abuse, police said. Social services is determining if the child’s father can take custody of the child, police told McClatchy News.
McClatchy News is not identifying the mother to protect the identity of her child.
Attorney information for the mother was not listed.
Grand Island is about a 150-mile drive southwest from Omaha.
