• Fifteen nurses fired from Providence Sacred Heart in Spokane following the suicide of 12-year-old Sarah Niyimbona.
• Family lawsuit alleges safety failures, removed alarms, and negligent oversight despite claims of 24-hour supervision.
• Hospital insists terminations were over privacy violations, while the nurses’ union calls it retaliation for speaking out.

SPOKANE, Wash. (TDR) — Fifteen nurses at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane have been dismissed after the death of Sarah Niyimbona, a 12-year-old African American patient who died by suicide in April while under supposed 24-hour supervision. Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that the hospital failed to maintain even the most basic protections against self-harm.

The Tragic Night

Sarah had been admitted multiple times for suicidal ideation and self-harm attempts. For weeks she was housed in a pediatric unit not designed for psychiatric care, where safety protocols were inconsistent. According to the lawsuit, Sacred Heart removed critical measures — including video monitoring and door alarms — leaving her without full surveillance. On April 13, Sarah reportedly slipped out of her room undetected, made her way through hospital corridors, and reached a parking garage. From the fourth floor, she jumped. She was later pronounced dead in the emergency department where she had once been a frequent patient.

Firings and Fallout

Weeks later, Providence announced that 15 nurses had been terminated, claiming they accessed Sarah’s medical records without a treatment relationship, a violation of HIPAA. A sixteenth staffer was disciplined. Hospital officials framed the firings as a matter of privacy, not care.

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But the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) has cried foul, alleging the dismissals were retaliatory against employees who spoke publicly about the hospital’s failings. Several of the nurses insist they only reviewed records related to patients they had treated and that their real offense was talking to media about safety breakdowns. The union has filed grievances, calling the firings an intimidation tactic to silence whistleblowers.

Systemic Safety Lapses

The wrongful death lawsuit paints a damning picture of policy lapses. It alleges that alarms on patient doors were not functioning, that the hospital knowingly placed high-risk psychiatric patients on general floors, and that management failed to assign continuous one-to-one supervision despite repeated warnings.

The psychiatric unit at Sacred Heart had been closed months earlier due to financial losses, leaving children like Sarah in spaces not structurally suited for suicide prevention. These makeshift rooms lacked locked exits or specialized monitoring equipment. In effect, one of the region’s largest children’s hospitals housed vulnerable patients in conditions ill-equipped to prevent tragedy.

State Investigation

The Washington Department of Health investigated after Sarah’s death and cited the hospital for multiple deficiencies, noting unsafe policies and inconsistent risk assessment practices. Providence responded with a corrective action plan and pledged reforms, including better staff training, stricter use of sitters for at-risk patients, and reinforced alarm protocols. Yet critics argue those steps are reactive — and too late for Sarah.

The Human Cost

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Sarah’s family, in their lawsuit, has described her as a bright, compassionate girl who struggled deeply but wanted help. Their attorney argues that Sacred Heart failed in its legal and moral obligation to keep her safe under its care. For them, the firings distract from the core issue: why basic safeguards were stripped away in the weeks before her death.

Community members, meanwhile, have rallied around the dismissed nurses, many of whom had worked decades at the hospital. WSNA says morale among remaining staff has plummeted, and the case has sent shockwaves through Washington’s nursing community, highlighting the tension between corporate liability and frontline responsibility.

A Broader Reckoning

Beyond Spokane, Sarah’s death has sparked a national conversation on how hospitals handle pediatric psychiatric crises. Advocates say closures of specialized units and chronic underfunding of mental health care force hospitals to place suicidal children in unsafe environments. The tragic outcome, they argue, was predictable.

As the lawsuit proceeds, Providence faces scrutiny not just in court but in the court of public opinion. Whether the hospital will be held accountable for systemic failures or whether the firings will stand as the final word remains uncertain.

In the end, the question lingers: how can a system meant to protect children allow a 12-year-old to walk unnoticed into the night, with no one there to stop her?

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