Stephanie Hatcher, (Hall County Department of Corrections)
GRAND ISLAND — A Grand Island mother was arrested after she refused ambulance transport and failed to secure additional transport for her two-year-old son with a severe blood infection on Sunday, March 17.
According to the Grand Island Police Department, at 5:13 p.m., officers responded to 1728 Huston Ave. in reference to a welfare check on a two-year-old male.
Officers had been advised that the juvenile male was supposed to be transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) from CHI Health St. Francis Medical Center on Sunday morning.
St. Francis staff advised officers that the two-year-old had a severe blood infection that was potentially life threatening and needed immediate medical attention at the UNMC.
The mother of the two-year-old was identified as Stephanie Hatcher, according to the GIPD.
Officers were advised that Hatcher had refused to let her son be transported to UNMC by ambulance, allegedly stating she would take him herself.
The GIPD would then be notified that Hatcher had brought her son back to the St. Francis emergency room and still had not transported him to the UNMC.
Officers would contact Hatcher at St. Francis, where she would report that she did not transport her son to UNMC due to, “having car troubles and doing laundry,” GIPD stated.
Officers found that Hatcher failed to take any steps to find transport or other resources to ensure her child was brought to the UNMC for the required treatment.
GIPD says that Hatcher intentionally placed her child in a situation that endangered his life by not letting the ambulance transport him and not arranging for other transportation to UNMC for the proper medical care needed for a life-threatening condition.
Hatcher would be arrested for intentional child abuse and booked into the Hall County Department of Corrections.