San Bernardino County school district to pay $15 million in asthma lawsuit

Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District has agreed to pay more than $15 million to the family of a middle school student who died of an asthma attack on campus in 2019, USA Today reported.

The settlement, announced by the family’s attorney over the weekend, also requires the district to train its staff on how to care for students with asthma and take other health and safety measures. The district did not admit wrongdoing.

The lawsuit stems from an incident in October 2019 when Adilene Carrasco, 13, accompanied her class on a Halloween celebration at the school field. When she felt short of breath, the teacher allowed Adilene and a classmate to return to the classroom for an inhaler. Adilene still struggled to breathe after returning to the field, and the teacher told the pair to go to the nurse’s office, according to the suit. Adilene collapsed on the way, and was hospitalized. She died nine days later after doctors declared her brain dead.

“It’s not about the money,” Edith Sepulveda, Adilene’s mother, told USA Today. “It’s for this not to happen to another family… if I can prevent another family from having to go through what we’re going through, then that would be my mission.”