Lawsuit alleges nurse denied breathing tube to child, cites history of abuse

A Pennsylvania home health care provider ignored a nurse's "extensive history" of mistreating children, which resulted in her roughly handling a 3-year-old and withholding the girl's breathing tube as she struggled to breathe, according to a legal complaint.

David and Meredith Nastasi initiated a negligence lawsuit against Lincoln Healthcare Services LLC, operating as Team Select Home Care, and 58-year-old Cindy Desser, who is also facing a charge of endangering the welfare of a child for her alleged actions towards the plaintiffs' daughter, referred to as Z.N. in the suit.

According to the lawsuit, the child was born at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in October 2023 with numerous health conditions, including missing the lower part of her left ribs, abdominal muscles, and her left lung. 

She spent roughly nine months in the hospital, undergoing six major surgeries. Once she returned home in late 2024, she required a ventilator and continuous nursing care.

The Nastasis employed Team Select, who assigned Desser as a night nurse.

"Z.N. was medically delicate, and following everything she endured to finally be home, Z.N. needed attentive, caring, and understanding nurses," the lawsuit stated. "Instead, Team Select sent someone who was anything but, named Cindy Desser into Plaintiffs' residence."

On the evening of May 25, the plaintiffs claim, Desser "repeatedly choked and slammed" the child with "such intensity that it shook Z.N.'s crib and displaced medical monitoring devices."

"Based on gathered information, Desser had an extensive record of mistreating infants in her care and had worked with various other home health agencies that either dismissed her or parted ways under unfavorable circumstances before she joined Team Select in late 2024," the lawsuit indicates. 

"Desser's assault on Z.N. was neither the first nor the last. While free on bail pending charges related to her assault on Z.N., she somehow found employment with another home health agency and harmed another medically vulnerable toddler in Bucks County."

Jeffrey P. Goodman of Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky, representing the plaintiffs, asserts that Team Select should have realised that Desser was "unfit to care for children." He further claimed that Desser frequently dozed off during work, causing her to miss critical alarms.

WPVI reports that Desser has since been dismissed from her position. Her subsequent court appearance is scheduled for April 7.