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INDIANAPOLIS The mother of an 8-year-old autistic boy with severe peanut allergies said Friday that an Indianapolis teacher gave her son a peanut-filled candy bar in hopes of making him sick so he wouldn't go on a field trip.
A lawsuit filed by the boy's mother, Anita Young, alleges that special education teacher Trinda Barocas told a classroom aide that the boy would likely misbehave and "maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won't have to deal with it."
The lawsuit said one classroom aide told school officials that Barocas treated the boy like a "caged animal" by keeping him for hours in a cubicle that should have been used for short times alone.
Barocas also was accused of pinching the boy, standing on his foot so he could not move his leg and grabbing him by the arm to drag him around the classroom
Lawsuit Claims Indiana Teacher Tried to Sicken Autistic Boy With Peanut Candy - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News - FOXNews.com
INDIANAPOLIS The mother of an 8-year-old autistic boy with severe peanut allergies said Friday that an Indianapolis teacher gave her son a peanut-filled candy bar in hopes of making him sick so he wouldn't go on a field trip.
A lawsuit filed by the boy's mother, Anita Young, alleges that special education teacher Trinda Barocas told a classroom aide that the boy would likely misbehave and "maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won't have to deal with it."
The lawsuit said one classroom aide told school officials that Barocas treated the boy like a "caged animal" by keeping him for hours in a cubicle that should have been used for short times alone.
Barocas also was accused of pinching the boy, standing on his foot so he could not move his leg and grabbing him by the arm to drag him around the classroom
If this story is true, then this is sick and the teacher deserves a harsh punishment.
A gene defect that can triple the risk of a child developing an allergy to peanuts has been identified, scientists have said. An international research team led by Dundee University said it had made a "significant breakthrough" in understanding the disease. The gene responsible - Filaggrin - has already been shown to be a factor in causing eczema and asthma.
Peanut allergy affects 1-2% of children in the UK and can be life-threatening. The number of people affected by the condition has increased dramatically over the past 20 to 30 years, the Dundee team said - but the causes of the allergy are unknown. Dr Sara Brown, a fellow at Dundee University, said investigating whether Filaggrin was a cause of peanut allergy was the "logical next step" after a link with eczema and asthma had been established.
Allergy 'barrier'
"Allergic conditions often run in families, which tells us that inherited genetic factors are important," she said. "In addition to that, changes in the environment and our exposure to peanuts are thought to have been responsible for the recent increase in peanut allergy seen in the Western world in particular. "Now, for the first time, we have a genetic change that can be firmly linked to peanut allergy."
The findings - by scientists from Canada, the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands - have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Their research discovered that the Filaggrin gene helped to make the skin a good barrier against irritants and allergens. But changes in the gene decreased the effectiveness of this barrier, allowing substances to enter the body and leading to a range of allergic conditions.
'Clear link'
