Thoughts on mom arrested after flushing son's IV.

[WVaRN]

Link to story

CINCINNATI, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Appearing for the first time since being arrested during the weekend, Candy Fluty stood before a Hamilton County judge during her arraignment Monday morning.

The 35-year-old, who's from Mingo County, West Virginia, is accused of injecting a substance into her 9-year-old son, Elijah's IV while he was being treated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

According to the criminal complaint, charges were filed based on Fluty's own statements and video evidence. However, investigators have yet to say exactly what Fluty is accused of putting into Elijah's IV.

In court Monday, Fluty's attorney told the judge the entire situation was a "total misunderstanding," but the judge said the court was concerned about the fact Fluty took it upon herself to inject the boy, according to the allegations.

Elijah Fluty's aunt Katie told a Cincinnati TV station Candy Fluty was arrested for allegedly putting saline in her son's IV line. The aunt claims the boy had a blood clot, and Candy called for a nurse. The aunt says before the nurse could get to the room, Candy pushed saline into her son's IV system.

Several of Fluty's friends and family tell WSAZ.com Candy loves all four of her children, and would never do anything to harm them.

Fluty's ex-mother-in-law says Candy has been Elijah's primary care giver for his entire life. The family says Elijah was born with Hirschsprung disease, which is a blockage of the large intestine due to improper muscle movement in the bowel, and has had health issues his entire life.

On Monday, the judge in the case ordered Fluty back to jail on $50,000 bond, and also ordered her to stay away from her son. However, Fluty's family members say they expect her to be out on bond sometime Monday evening.


ORIGINAL STORY 1/19/15
CINCINNATI, Ohio (WSAZ) – A woman from Kermit, West Virginia, has been arrested and charged with allegedly injecting a substance into a child's intravenous line at a Cincinnati, Ohio hospital.
Candida Fluty, 35, is charged with felonious assault and child endangering.
Fluty was arrested Saturday evening at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
A Cincinnati TV station reports that Fluty “knowingly injected a substance into the victim’s peripheral IV line” Friday night inside one of the rooms at the hospital.
According to court documents, the charges are based on video evidence and Fluty’s statements.
There is no word on how the child is related to her.
Fluty is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center. She is scheduled to be in court Monday.

I am being told the "unknown" substance was a saline flush.  The boy had had a lot of medical problems, mom is only caregiver.  He has had PICC lines and IVs in the past he was even sent home with IV antibiotics and the mom was trained on how to flush the IV.  He has been getting blood clots in his arms bad since about Oct. of 2014. He was in the children hospital they are watching him closely for more clots to form. Mom allegedly called out to nurses to flush his IV because it was clotting and they never came in room so she took it upon herself to flush it herself.  Thus leading to the arrest. Now I'm a nurse and I know that it is a big no no to mess with IVs in the hospital, but I sorta see where she is coming from that she was terrified of another clot forming and really didn't think it would be a problem doing it.  Am I being to biased towards the mom where I know her? Or does the punishment seem a bit harsh to anyone else? I know she shouldn't have done it. And it is against hospital policy, but I think leaving the poor 9 year old alone in a strange city is crazy.  

Edited to add link to video

[jawswife]

This is so sad. I feel for the mom and her son. She shouldn't have gone against the hospital's policy and I understand the need to investigate the situation but it sounds like she was doing what she thought was best for her child.

Here's where I get upset. My former sister-in-law is being investigated for MSBP, has a plethora of evidence against her, has admitted to drugging her kids and is not being charged with a crime. She just lost custody of her kids after a year with only visitation. The things she was doing, she could have killed her youngest. Fucking makes me so angry.

[daisy818]

Often in suspected child abuse cases law enforcement will jump in before they have had a chance to complete an investigation (which makes sense, because if abuse is occuring and the investigation takes a few weeks to complete, then they've left a child potentially in danger during that time - thus why she is also not permitted to be with him while out on bond). In this case it was probably not immediately apparent to law enforcement 1) what the substance was that was injected, 2) whether she was trained properly to do it, since it doesn't sound like she was a nurse and obviously was not an employee of the hospital, 3) what the effect of the fluid was on the child, and 4) what the hospital said (for example, what if they had told her shortly before this that a flush was not safe for some reason), and they took a "better safe than sorry" approach to it. That being said, I would hope that once the things you stated are confirmed Ohio would drop the charge because it sounds excessive to me.

OP - I'm guessing you're from WV? I am too!

[nuggetrn]

This seems very extreme considering it was a saline flush, the article really makes it seem like she was injecting a dangerous substance into his line. How scary for a child to be without his mother in the hospital.

Did anyone but me notice that this woman's full name is also Candida? Just me?

[WVaRN]

jawswife that is crazy about your SIL. I hope it works out to where her kids are able to be kept safe.
daisy818 I understand the need to keep him safe until they investigate I guess my heart just hurts for the little boy alone in a strage city without his mom. But I understand better safe than sorry. I'm hoping one of his Aunts or his grandma has made it there. I don't think dad has really ever done much for him. And yes I'm from WV
nuggetrn yea her name is Candida. She hated it growing up so always went by Candy.
W I also agree I have only heard moms side of story. I really would like to hear more of the hospitals side.

[getzystark]

Do they say if she was flushing a peripheral IV, a PICC or a central? I seriously side-eye flushing a small peripheral IV causing the arrest of the kid. If it was a PICC or central line, that makes a tad more sense but it's still rare.

EDA: They said peripheral. It's pretty unlikely that is the reason for his arrest.

[WVaRN]

Jan 20, 2015 10:10:38 GMT -5 getzystark said:

Do they say if she was flushing a peripheral IV, a PICC or a central? I seriously side-eye flushing a small peripheral IV causing the arrest of the kid. If it was a PICC or central line, that makes a tad more sense but it's still rare.

EDA: They said peripheral. It's pretty unlikely that is the reason for his arrest.

I understand it was a peripheral. I'm not sure if she did anything else besides flushing it or not. Like if they confronted her and she got belligerent or what. They have to be more to the story. 

[nuggetrn]

Jan 20, 2015 10:10:38 GMT -5 getzystark said:

Do they say if she was flushing a peripheral IV, a PICC or a central? I seriously side-eye flushing a small peripheral IV causing the arrest of the kid. If it was a PICC or central line, that makes a tad more sense but it's still rare.

EDA: They said peripheral. It's pretty unlikely that is the reason for his arrest.

I feel like I missed the part where he arrested?? The computer isn't letting me play the video.

[nuggetrn]

I am also curious how this all went down... nurses discover she has flushed the line with saline, and then what? Someone assumes she has injected something dangerous into the line, kid is injured? How did this become such a huge issue is my question.

Maybe I am being naïve and maybe because I work with kids who's parents have been their primary caregivers for their whole lives I don't necessarily see flushing a line if you have been trained in the past to be something that is the end of the world.

I also understand hospital policy and that in most places syringes/needles even flushes are kept locked up because of safety and liability issues.

[jawswife]

Jan 20, 2015 10:10:37 GMT -5 WVaRN said:

jawswife that is crazy about your SIL. I hope it works out to where her kids are able to be kept safe.
daisy818 I understand the need to keep him safe until they investigate I guess my heart just hurts for the little boy alone in a strage city without his mom. But I understand better safe than sorry. I'm hoping one of his Aunts or his grandma has made it there. I don't think dad has really ever done much for him. And yes I'm from WV
nuggetrn yea her name is Candida. She hated it growing up so always went by Candy.
W I also agree I have only heard moms side of story. I really would like to hear more of the hospitals side.

Thank you, as of right now the dad's have full custody of both boys. (Her oldest is with my brother, and her youngest was from the relationship after my brother. He got the brunt of his mom's abuse.)

[getzystark]

Jan 20, 2015 10:20:28 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

I am also curious how this all went down... nurses discover she has flushed the line with saline, and then what? Someone assumes she has injected something dangerous into the line, kid is injured? How did this become such a huge issue is my question.

Maybe I am being naïve and maybe because I work with kids who's parents have been their primary caregivers for their whole lives I don't necessarily see flushing a line if you have been trained in the past to be something that is the end of the world.

I also understand hospital policy and that in most places syringes/needles even flushes are kept locked up because of safety and liability issues.

OOOOOH sheeeee was arrested, not the kid. OMG I had green tea instead of coffee this morning. That makes more sense.

[nuggetrn]

Jan 20, 2015 10:35:23 GMT -5 getzystark said:

Jan 20, 2015 10:20:28 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

I am also curious how this all went down... nurses discover she has flushed the line with saline, and then what? Someone assumes she has injected something dangerous into the line, kid is injured? How did this become such a huge issue is my question.

Maybe I am being naïve and maybe because I work with kids who's parents have been their primary caregivers for their whole lives I don't necessarily see flushing a line if you have been trained in the past to be something that is the end of the world.

I also understand hospital policy and that in most places syringes/needles even flushes are kept locked up because of safety and liability issues.

OOOOOH sheeeee was arrested, not the kid. OMG I had green tea instead of coffee this morning. That makes more sense.

That makes so much more sense, lol.  I was thinking that was probably what was going on but I wondered if there was something in the video that I missed because my computer won't play it.

[motleycrew90]

Working in a childrens hospital we see a lot of parents who are the primary care givers for chronic patients. They know the ins and outs of these children. They go home with IVs, O2, even ventilators. I feel that if it really was an emergent situation nurses would have been in there pretty quickly.

Part of me says that what the mother did was wrong, it violated hospital policies. The other part says she does this at home, why not in the hospital. Question is what if that had been an unwrapped syringe with something else in it?

I feel that her punishment is a little extreme. I feel even more sorry for that poor boy who is in this scary hospital around strange people with out his mom.

[nuggetrn]

Jan 20, 2015 11:50:15 GMT -5 motleycrew90 said:

Working in a childrens hospital we see a lot of parents who are the primary care givers for chronic patients. They know the ins and outs of these children. They go home with IVs, O2, even ventilators. I feel that if it really was an emergent situation nurses would have been in there pretty quickly.

Part of me says that what the mother did was wrong, it violated hospital policies. The other part says she does this at home, why not in the hospital. Question is what if that had been an unwrapped syringe with something else in it?

I feel that her punishment is a little extreme. I feel even more sorry for that poor boy who is in this scary hospital around strange people with out his mom.

This is where I'm at with this whole story.

No matter the ins and outs, she presumably violated hospital policy. I get that that is not a good thing... but to go to this extreme, when no harm was caused and she had knowledge of what she was doing?

Is the hospital just covering their butt because a nurse left flushes out when they weren't supposed to?

And now this poor little boy is without his mom in an already scary situation.

[motleycrew90]

Jan 20, 2015 11:56:57 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

Jan 20, 2015 11:50:15 GMT -5 motleycrew90 said:

Working in a childrens hospital we see a lot of parents who are the primary care givers for chronic patients. They know the ins and outs of these children. They go home with IVs, O2, even ventilators. I feel that if it really was an emergent situation nurses would have been in there pretty quickly.

Part of me says that what the mother did was wrong, it violated hospital policies. The other part says she does this at home, why not in the hospital. Question is what if that had been an unwrapped syringe with something else in it?

I feel that her punishment is a little extreme. I feel even more sorry for that poor boy who is in this scary hospital around strange people with out his mom.

This is where I'm at with this whole story.

No matter the ins and outs, she presumably violated hospital policy. I get that that is not a good thing... but to go to this extreme, when no harm was caused and she had knowledge of what she was doing?

Is the hospital just covering their butt because a nurse left flushes out when they weren't supposed to?

And now this poor little boy is without his mom in an already scary situation.

I know in our hospital nurses leave flushes in the room all the time. I'm not sure what the policy is on keeping flushes out.

[nuggetrn]

Jan 20, 2015 12:34:01 GMT -5 motleycrew90 said:

Jan 20, 2015 11:56:57 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

This is where I'm at with this whole story.

No matter the ins and outs, she presumably violated hospital policy. I get that that is not a good thing... but to go to this extreme, when no harm was caused and she had knowledge of what she was doing?

Is the hospital just covering their butt because a nurse left flushes out when they weren't supposed to?

And now this poor little boy is without his mom in an already scary situation.

I know in our hospital nurses leave flushes in the room all the time. I'm not sure what the policy is on keeping flushes out.

It was a big no no where I worked. I am just assuming that elsewhere it might not be allowed.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it could be stolen and used for injecting drugs if someone chose to do that. We even had to put empty flushes in the sharps container as opposed to the trashcan.

[spartanchick88]

Jan 20, 2015 9:54:20 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

This seems very extreme considering it was a saline flush, the article really makes it seem like she was injecting a dangerous substance into his line. How scary for a child to be without his mother in the hospital.

Did anyone but me notice that this woman's full name is also Candida? Just me?

I agree with you.

And yes, I noticed that and gave it a head turn. I was wondering if I was the only one to catch that.

Edit because I have fat fingers today

[nuggetrn]

b spartanchick88

I can't help but wonder if she has any siblings... and why her mother decided to name her that?

[spartanchick88]

Jan 20, 2015 14:03:20 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

b spartanchick88

I can't help but wonder if she has any siblings... and why her mother decided to name her that?

Sadly, people see words and think they will make great names - they never investigate any farther.

[nuggetrn]

W

I googled it. Tony Orlando in 1970

I am still not sure that makes it ok... lol

Also, www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Candida

It means "white." Amongst other things...

[nuggetrn]

Jan 20, 2015 14:23:46 GMT -5 W said:

Jan 20, 2015 14:16:55 GMT -5 nuggetrn said:

W

I googled it. Tony Orlando in 1970

I am still not sure that makes it ok... lol

Also, www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Candida

It means "white." Amongst other things...

Lol no. It just makes sense since the mom was probably born around then.

My friend got teased because the Aaron Carter song "I want Candy" was popular in middle school. Lol she hated it.

Lol yea, and I had never heard of the song. So of course someone who has no knowledge of the word otherwise is going to hear that song and be like o what a pretty name and then name their child that without a second thought. After all, it was on the radio.

Poor girl.

[WVaRN]

Jan 20, 2015 10:38:39 GMT -5 W said:

WVaRN do you know if she was arrested while with her son? Did he see her get arrested? Does he know she is arrested?

I can't imagine the stress that kid is dealing with. I really hope he doesn't think this is his fault.

I hope he didn't see it all but I'm not sure how it all went down. 

[WVaRN]

Jan 20, 2015 11:03:47 GMT -5 @iliketurtles said:

I really want to know more about this story! When was the article posted? Maybe there is an update?

News Story

I don't think it has been updated since I posted. 

[pinkcat]

An super sad update here :-( The news is reporting that she injected feces into his IV- not saline.

www.newsnet5.com/news/state/prosecution-candy-fluty-west-virginia-mom-injected-feces-into-sick-sons-iv

[daisy818]

Yeah, I read that in the local paper this morning (I live in WV) - if that's true, yikes.

[Deleted]

Is it posted anywhere WHY she did it?? This is so messed up, but I'm a 'need to know all the details' girl. What was her endgame??

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:54:44 GMT -5 W said:

Ah. I found the possible "why":


***Now prosecutors suspect his illness may have been exaggerated or intensified by his own mother suffering from a mental disordercalledMunchausen by proxy.

"Munchausen by proxy is when usually a parent does something to make their child appear sick to get a psychological gain or response for the parent,” said Dr. Stephen Strakowski, professor of psychiatry at UC Medical Center.

WTF.

[daisy818]

Munchausen by proxy is such a fucked up mental disorder.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 16:39:17 GMT -5 @wineandcupcakes said:

I'm a pedi home care nurse. This child is the exact type of child I care for. These parents, in many cases, are more adept at caring for their children than the nurses in the ICU. They literally know everything and regularly provide care of this caliber for children at their home. I think sometimes it hard to stop that when their child is hospitalized.

Saline flushes are a routine part of IV care. Admittedly, I haven't read the articles, but can tell you that removing a the primary caregiver for a child with these special needs is a bad idea. The hospital needs to get over it. If I were hospitalized, I wouldn't think twice about doing my own flushes and performing my own care, I think this mom should have those same rights.

Read the update - she put feces in it to keep her son infected. 

[katelou]

How awful

I wonder if he really has Hirschprung's since the symptoms of that can be faked. I know a biopsy could confirm it, but would some doctors diagnose it without a positive biopsy? I know lots of people with Hirschprung's (as I also grew up with surgically altered guts) and it is unusual to make it past infancy without needing surgery for it.