Parents sue nursery after child chokes to death

PARENTS of a 6-year-old boy who choked to death on a piece of cake at his kindergarten have filed a lawsuit against the kindergarten, demanding an apology, explanation and compensation of 1.6 million yuan (US$235,000).

Teachers and staff at Blue Shell Kindergarten in the Pudong New Area claimed they had tried their best to save the life of the boy, nicknamed Youyou, and got him to hospital in time. The mother, Wang Qinghua, does not believe their explanations.

The kindergarten released the results of investigation to Wang on March 21, 19 days after the incident.

At 11:42am on March 2, Youyou left the canteen after he had lunch and two pieces of coconut cake. He walked directly into his classroom and pointed at his throat to class teacher Wu, without saying a word. Wu asked him whether he wanted to vomit and he nodded, according to the report.

Wu took him to the restroom but he couldn’t vomit. He looked unwell and he could not utter a sound. Wu thought something might be blocking his airways, performed the Heimlich maneuver and called for help.

Another teacher rushed to the scene where she found Youyou’s lips had turned blue and was unable to detect any breathing.

She performed another Heimlich maneuver and shouted for others to call ambulance.

At 11:44am, the kindergarten’s health director dialed 120. In the meantime, Youyou vomited, but his condition did not improve.

When Wang was informed of the incident and went to the hospital, Wu told her that she had sent Youyou to the toilet and told him to vomit by himself.

“When I asked whether she conducted Heimlich maneuver, she didn’t say yes. And she couldn’t even pronounce ‘Heimlich,’” Wang said.

“When I met Wu on March 9 at the kindergarten, she told me a new version of the story, the same as the investigation report showed. I’m afraid that she might be covering up the truth.”

Medical reports by Gongli Hospital showed Youyou’s heart was revived by emergency treatment but he still could not breath by himself and lost conscious.

Later he was transferred to Shanghai Children’s Medical Center where he died in the early hours of May 2.

Medical reports by Shanghai Children’s Medical Center showed he died of foreign body aspiration and suffocation.

“All I want is the truth. I’ve demanded a third-party investigation, but no one responded,” Wang said. “Finally, I have had to turn to law.”

The trial opened on Friday. In court, Wang said the kindergarten was not equipped with monitoring cameras in public venues, teachers had no proper emergency training, and did not conduct CPR in time.