Name: Ethan Okula.
Died: February 10, 2016.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Bowel obstruction.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability, hearing impaired, vision impaired, chronic illness including a bowel condition.
Details:
Ethan was at school when he began to experience severe stomach pain, so the school sent him home to his foster parents, recommending they take him to the hospital. But instead of getting him medical attention, they put him on the couch and left him there until he stopped breathing. When emergency services were finally called, he was dead from an untreated bowel obstruction.
Case status:
Denise Alston (Foster mother), pleaded guilty to tampering with public documents, sentenced to 3 years probation.
Carol Fletcher (Foster mother), pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, sentenced to 8 months time served and probation.
Source:
A 10-year-old’s wholly preventable death
Finally, after two years, criminal charges in a child’s heartbreaking death
Couple who left 10-year-old foster kid dying on couch charged
Ethan Okula’s foster mother was sentenced in his tragic death. So many more are to blame
Finally, after two years, criminal charges in a child’s heartbreaking death