Jocelyn Carter and her daughter (The Button Law Firm).
A 20-month-old girl got access to a vape pen belonging to a Bright Horizons day care center employee in Texas and became sick from nicotine, a mother alleges in a lawsuit.
Jocelyn Carter says her daughter was poisoned on her first day at the day care on Jan. 22 at a center in Plano, 20 miles north of Dallas. The incident sickened the girl, leaving her face swollen and causing a persistent cough and vomiting, according to the complaint filed in a federal court in Texas on Tuesday.
“I am furious that Bright Horizons at Legacy knew my daughter could be poisoned by drugs in a vape pen, but they chose to do nothing and remained silent,” said Carter in a statement. “My daughter is my world. I don’t want to imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t rushed her to a doctor as soon as I sensed something was off.”
The discovery was made when a Bright Horizon employee returned from the bathroom and saw the girl, identified in court documents as G.C., with something pink in her hand and “a smoke and mist like substance coming out of her nose and mouth,” court documents said.
The employee confronted the vape pen’s owner, another employee, about the device. Without a word, that employee took the pen from the other employee’s hand and put it into her jacket pocket, the lawsuit alleges.
The worker who found the device didn’t immediately report the incident because she “did not know who to report it to and was afraid that she may get in trouble,” court documents said.
Carter alleges a worker lied to her when she arrived for pickup later that day about why her daughter’s eyes and cheeks were swollen, red, and puffy, court documents said.
“When Jocelyn inquired why her daughter’s eyes were swollen, the Bright Horizons caregiver employee responded with laughter and told Jocelyn that G.C.’s eyes were swollen because she was just a ‘good sleeper,”” the lawsuit said.
At home that night, G.C. was treated by medical professionals after developing a severe and persistent cough that caused vomiting, court documents said.
Eight days later, Bright Horizons told Carter the truth about what happened to her daughter but didn’t tell her what substance was in the pen or how the girl was able to access the device. The vape pen owner ultimately resigned from her job after being suspended, but the employee who found the pen was not fired for failing to report the incident, the lawsuit said.
A media representative for Bright Horizons did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
Carter notified the police, who said the girl could have ingested as much as 40 milligrams of nicotine from the disposable electronic vape pen, court documents said. Children ingesting even small amounts of nicotine can turn fatal, according to the Texas Poison Center Network.
Court documents said an investigation by the state’s Health and Human Services Child-Care Licensing Division and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cited the day care center for neglectfully supervising the toddler and failing to meet the requirements of a mandatory reporter of suspected child abuse and neglect because a caregiver witnessed the incident but did not report it to the proper authorities.
“Negligent practices at Bright Horizons at Legacy failed this family by endangering an innocent toddler’s life,” said day care injury lawyer Russell Button of The Button Law Firm, who represents Carter. “Hard-working parents like Ms. Carter expect day care centers to hire responsible caregivers and provide a safe environment. Bright Horizons at Legacy did neither, causing a little girl to suffer.”
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