DENVER — The 12-year-old lay in a bed in the intensive care unit, gasping for breath during a severe asthmatic reaction.
While deciding whether to intubate him, Dr. Carly Muller couldn’t take her eyes away from the handcuffs chaining the boy to the hospital bed. Or the guard standing above him. The boy was in the custody of the juvenile justice system and hadn’t been receiving his medications.
“It really seemed unnecessary when this boy literally couldn’t catch his breath, let alone run away,” the Children’s Hospital Colorado pediatrician said, describing the scene to state legislators last week.
