According to the court documents, the 46-year-old defendant, Bethaniel, was reportedly sentenced to probation. He was found guilty of recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child by omission in the case of 4-year-old Nevaeh who was reportedly left permanently brain damaged, blind, mute and in a wheelchair with 24-7 care because she can’t walk or eat. Per reports, jury awarded the family $95 million in a civil lawsuit, but it could not be paid out in full because Bethaniel’s malpractice insurance could not cover the costs. Nevaeh’s family was not happy with the verdict.
The grandmother of the girl, who is now 11, said the defendant gets to walk free, live her life, going about her business. “Nevaeh won’t get to go to her prom, walk down the aisle and get married, enjoy her birthdays where she can run around and play, which is what a child should do,” the unfortunate grandmother reportedly said. According to the court documents, this unfortunate incident occurred in Jan. 2016. Bethaniel reportedly sedated the then-4-year-old girl and the girl began having seizures, court records say. Bethaniel then tried to treat the Nevaeh’s seizures by administering oral medications instead of contacting emergency personnel.
Bethaniel reportedly allowed the girl to remain in a dangerous hypoxic state for several hours before she called 911. The girl’s blood oxygen level dropped and remained low for about five hours. Bethaniel did not realize that the girl was in shock and testified in her license revocation hearing that when she checked on the girl, she thought the patient was cold. Bethaniel gave the girl water orally using a syringe, but when she began having a seizure, she gave her Valium mixed with water. She calmed down and took more water but threw up the water and began shaking violently. Bethaniel called her pastor several times and a pharmacy to inquire about drug interactions. When first responders arrived on scene, the girl hadn’t been receiving oxygen.
When paramedics started an IV, she had a seizure, and then another one when she got to the hospital’s emergency room. A doctor noted the child had concerning symptoms on her neurologic exam and found her to be in a stuporous state and wasn’t opening her eyes or responding to any external stimuli. According to the court documents, the then-4-year-old girl could breathe on her own, she could not control her secretions or swallow. Doctors told Nevaeh’s family that she had hypoxic-ischemic brain injury due to lack of oxygen and remained nearly coma like for several days. Bethaniel acknowledged wrongdoing, said she was in shock when her patient began having her first seizure that morning, and said if something like that happened again, she would immediately call 911.