The aftermath of suicide is always an harrowing thing to experience, but it feels even more heinous when the victim was just a child. Sadly 12-year-old Sarah Niyimbona died after she escaped her room at Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington and jumped from the parking garages’ fourth floor.
According to the New York Post, over a dozen of nurses working that evening were fired for the incident, with one being disciplined formally. Niyimbona reportedly attempted suicide several times throughout 2024 and the family was dedicated to helping her, according to The Spokesman-Review her mother, Nasra Gertrude, is left wondering so many different things but mainly how this all happened. She reportedly slipped out of a supposedly monitored hospital room, got in an elevator, walked to the parking garage and climbed up to commit the act all completely unnoticed.
“I ask what happened,” Gertrude told The Spokesman-Review. “How come she left the room without anybody seeing her? How come she walk all the way to the elevator without anybody seeing her?”
According to InvestigateWest, the hospital allegedly removed safety measures including an around-the-clock sitter, a video monitor and door alarm the night she was supposed to be watched.
There is an ongoing investigation surrounding hospital staffing. InvestigateWest wrote that The Washington State Nurses Association claims that the firings are “retaliation” for speaking to the media, saying the impacted staff was breaking patient privacy laws by accessing her medical records without being involved in her care.
“We’re confused how this could happen. We also want to know why there wasn’t anyone there at the moment, why there was nobody watching her and how she was able to leave,” her 19-year-old sister, Asha Joseph, told PBS.
On Niyimbona’s GoFundMe page organized by Asha Joseph, the young girl was described as a “bright angel who lit [up] our lives with her presence,” and also stated that “negligence” allowed this to happen.
“An act of negligence led to her passing and were left with so many questions,” the page said. “Over the past year, Sarah bravely fought a long battle with her mental health, spending countless months in and out of hospital facilities, seeking the care and treatment she deserved. It had been almost 3 months without having Sarah home before she passed. It’s heartbreaking that the one place that was supposed to keep her safe failed to do so.”
The claims and articles by InvestigateWest triggered an investigation by the Washington Department of Health, and reportedly found that Sacred Heart put three other suicidal patients at risk this year in addition to Niyimbona. The family is currently suing the hospital for the alleged negligence and medical malpractice.
