LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A lawsuit was filed against an east Louisville day care after a child was found unresponsive last year and later died.
The lawsuit accuses the day care of violating the state mandated staff ratio and blames Kayfield Academy 2 on Nelson Miller Parkway and its employee for death in December of 13-month-old Shivani Jishnu.
Shivani was rushed to the hospital and put on life support. She died weeks later, and there was an emergency suspension of Kayfield's license dated two days later. According to Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services records obtained by WDRB News, the day care exceeded the minimum staff to child ratio in three different rooms, including the one where Jishnu was found unresponsive.
A lawsuit accuses the day care of violating the state mandated staff ratio and blames Kayfield and its employee for the child's death. The lawsuit says the child had trouble breathing, went into cardiac arrest and suffered hypoxia, which is brought on by oxygen level in the blood and arteries dipping below normal.
A document from Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS reveals the day care informed first responders that Shivani was napping at the time of the incident. However, day care administrators told her parents a different story.
"When we talked to them, they didn't tell us she was napping," Jishnu Radhakrishnan, Shivani's father, told WDRB News. "They told us she was playing and then was found unresponsive."
"Out of the gates, Kayfield lied," added Terry Goodspeed, the attorney representing Shivani's family.
Kayfield Academy II in east Louisville was temporarily shut down following a child death investigation.
The child's parents said that they have hounded Kayfield with questions about what happened but still don't have answers about what led to her ultimate death.
"We just want to know why our child had to go through that," said Shivani's mother, Vini Vinjayarajan.
The heartbroken family is in need of answers for closure and in hopes that it will prevent other families from having to suffer.
"No other parent — or no other child — would have to be in that situation or go through the pain that we continue to go through every day not knowing what happened to her," Vinjayarajan said.
A records search shows there have been at least five other state investigations at the facility since 2020. It included two incidents resulting in child injury that the day care was not cited for.
“I don’t think the ratio issue necessarily is a Kayfield problem, but it’s definitely a problem Kayfield’s been facing,” Goodspeed said.
Kayfield's attorney has not replied to a request for comment. The state recently issued Kayfield a corrective action plan and allowed it to reopen Jan. 24.
Related Stories:
- Lawsuit alleges east Louisville day care was responsible for toddler's death in 2021
- East Louisville daycare reopens following death of child found unresponsive
- Family of 13-month-old Louisville child who died still waiting for answers from police, day care
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