Gabriel Fernandez Docu-Series on Netflix

SchoolNurse91, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2020

Someone did call 911. They said it wasn't an emergency and had him call the sheriff's office. They did nothing. I don't think the teacher could have done anything more. We could get charged for not sending the child home.. ask me how I know ?. The only time we could keep a kid is if CPS or the police department told us to.

Nursesusu · Mar 4, 2020

Just about everything that could go wrong in that situation, did. The step dad deserved the death penalty. Mom did too but when she saw him get sentenced, she copped a plea deal fast.

AAo · Mar 5, 2020

On 3/2/2020 at 11:05 AM, jnemartin said:
I should add that I realize they might not have even had a school nurse... I guess my reaction was more centered around the school in general not doing enough. That boy looked horrible in his final weeks. They should not have let him return home until he was properly evaluated (medical and social) - and everyone in the school should have known that, as mandated reporters.

Hi, I’m sure they did have a school nurse but in my opinion this is what sets nurses apart, there’s nurses who do their work with passion and nurses who do it for the paycheck. I don’t mean to offend anyone just wanted to say my opinion.

Nursesusu · Mar 5, 2020

This docuseries will haunt me for a long time. Everyone failed him. Everyone.

EnoughWithTheIce · Mar 5, 2020

Didn't I read somewhere that the LA area of CA has one of the worst student to school nurse ratios in the country??? Like 1:2500 students?

Was it an aid? A nurse only on campus 1/2 day a week?? A secretary that staff think is a nurse?

Sort of irrelevant though in this case!! it certainly did not take any kind of medical degree to see he was in bad shape. The shot with the bb's is what really got to me. Poor baby...

Shauntil07, CNA · Mar 5, 2020

All around the boy was just failed in all areas, from the school, to the police, to DCFS-just everybody. I saw the whole series...and its baffling because he wasn't the only child this happened to. You see at the towards the end- they were getting calls about another child who was died in a case very similar to Gabriel's.

Cookie_for · Mar 6, 2020

I saw it and was so sad. I didn't feel that the mother deserve to live. I came from a bad household not as bad as Gaberial, but BAD! I feel like a broken adult even though I made it out.

tining, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2020

14 hours ago, Cookie_for said:
I saw it and was so sad. I didn't feel that the mother deserve to live. I came from a bad household not as bad as Gaberial, but BAD! I feel like a broken adult even though I made it out.

<<<<<<<Hugs & ❤️>>>>>>>>

jnemartin, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2020

I found it interesting that they discussed/explained the "scapegoat syndrome." I was wondering why they focused their abuse on Gabriel and I want to learn more about that phenomenon. I feel AWFUL for the siblings and father who must have HORRIBLE survivors' guilt and trauma.

Cookie_for · Mar 6, 2020

4 minutes ago, jnemartin said:
I found it interesting that they discussed/explained the "scapegoat syndrome." I was wondering why they focused their abuse on Gabriel and I want to learn more about that phenomenon. I feel AWFUL for the siblings and father who must have HORRIBLE survivors' guilt and trauma.

Yes, me too. I was like but she didn't do all that to the other two. Yep, it was horrible. It was also interesting that her family said she was the dominant one in the relationships.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Mar 7, 2020

I binge-watched the series after reading your post (thank you for the recommendation).

I know this is the school nurse forum and my reaction is a little off-topic relative to the initial post, but that opening scene with the trauma nurse d*mn near broke me. As an acute care peds nurse, I related so personally to the experiences she described.

I’m fortunate that I’ve never cared for a patient who had been the victim of abuse (nearly all of my patients have congenital medical diagnoses), but her statement about going in to ‘nurse mode’ not having time to process emotions during an emergency resonated so deeply with me. I shed a tear a number of times during the series, but when that nurse talked about being in the moment, running the code, hiding her emotions, “because he needed me,” I was literally sobbing because I’ve been there (running a terrible code on a child, then after my shift crying about it in the hospital parking deck). Like that nurse, I light a candle on the birthday of some of the kids I’ve cared for and lost. I know it isn’t the point of the series, but her statement shed light in the very real second-hand trauma and PTSD that nurses can experience. The cases can be devastating even when the death results from natural causes, and I can’t imagine how awful it would be when the trauma is intentional.

I also thought that the social worker prosecution was especially interesting in light of the Radonda Voght case at Vanderbilt last year (which we discussed on AN at length). Medical providers are named in civil suits all of the time, but that case was really rare because criminal charges were made against Voght (the nurse) as well. I think that there are a lot of interesting parallels between the Voght case and the Fernandez social work cases (criminal liability, systems errors vs. personal errors, etc.)

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2020

I just finished watching the Netflix series. Terrible. This little guy had so many people in his life who could have helped.

but everyone was covering up and avoiding getting involved. LA County Sheriff's Department, CPS, family, maybe neighbors.

And then to hear that there are other children who have been killed by abuse in this County where there is such massive expenditure of money - just awful. I am truly appalled. His mother is a real whacko.

I wonder where the appeals are now (by the mother and her boyfriend).

And how will Gabriel's siblings fare?

And this is only 1 county in 1 state. No doubt there are deaths from such savagery in many places.