Student stabbed with pencil says nurse sent him back to class - KPTV - FOX 12

Vancouver student stabbed with pencil says school nurse sent him back to class

A Skyview High School student who said he was stabbed in the chest with a pencil last week thinks the school nurse should be fired for allegedly sending him back to class instead of calling an ambulance.

The student, 14-year-old Roman Harper, said the attack left him with a collapsed lung. He is recovering from surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

"I'm feeling better," said Harper.

He was stabbed last Wednesday when he said he was involved in a fight with another student in the school's training room.

Part of the wooden pencil broke off in his chest.

"There was a broken pencil in me," he said.

Harper said doctors told him the pencil came within just one centimeter of his heart and he is lucky to be alive.

After last week's fight, Harper said he went to the school nurse who tried to call his mom but couldn't get a hold of her.

Instead of calling an ambulance, he said the school nurse sent him back to class where he sat for more than two hours with the pencil still lodged in his chest.

"She's like, ‘Well, I guess you can sit right here on this bench and wait for your mom to answer or go back to class.' I'm like, ‘Well, I might as well go back to class if I'm going to be here,'" Harper said about the conversation he had with the school nurse.

Harper said it became difficult to breathe in class, so he went back to the nurse a second time and she put tape over the injury.

Harper said the school finally reached his mom, who picked him up and rushed him to the hospital.

His mom also wants to know why the school didn't call an ambulance right away.

"He was sitting in class for two hours with no medical attention," said Lana Kudina.

The school district said it is investigating the incident but could not release information about any disciplinary action taken against a student or a staff member.

Harper said he heard that the student who attacked him was suspended for two days.

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