City and Philly agencies failed to prevent 11-year-old’s death from asthma, lawsuit says
Nayshaun William's died on an asthma attack on October 28, 2023. He often arrived to school without a rescue inhaler but DHS closed a medical neglect investigation days prior to the child's death.
The Philadelphia Department of Human Services and two child-welfare agencies failed to prevent the 2023 fatal asthma attack of an 11-year-old despite a series of warnings, a new federal lawsuit says.
The city and the agencies should have intervened in Nayshaun Williams’ living situation with his grandmother in Wissinoming, but they repeatedly ignored signs the child was not receiving adequate medical treatment, the lawsuit says.
On the morning of Oct. 28, 2023, Nayshaun complained that he couldn’t breathe, and his grandmother Patricia Clayton attempted to treat the asthma attack with a nebulizer, the complaint says.
The treatment didn’t work, and Nayshaun needed a rescue inhaler, which he didn’t have because Clayton failed to maintain his medications, according to the lawsuit. Nayshaun was pronounced dead at a hospital that day.
Clayton later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment charges, court records show.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Nayshaun’s siblings and other relatives on Monday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, focuses on the role of the city, Turning Points for Children, and the Greater Philadelphia Community Alliance in supervising the child’s safety.
DHS opened and closed multiple investigations into Nayshaun’s living situation, the suit says, including a medical neglect investigation that was closed days before his death.
“Nayshaun’s death was not merely foreseeable,” the suit says, “it was predictable and preventable, resulting directly from defendants’ indifference to his safety and constitutional rights.”
A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department and for David Fair, executive director of Turning Points, declined to comment. Greater Philadelphia Community Alliance did not respond to a request for comment.
Philadelphia and agencies that contract with DHS to provide support to vulnerable kids, known as community umbrella agencies, were sued nearly 70 times between 2012 and 2024 after kids in their care were killed, sexually abused, or injured, an Inquirer/Resolve Philly investigation found. And at least 50 of these lawsuits led to settlements or verdicts of $1 million or more.
Turning Points is one of two agencies that declined to extend their contract with the city last year, citing litigation insurance costs.
» READ MORE: Toddler’s death in the bathtub of a Philly foster home prompts lawsuit
Many of the lawsuits involve cases in which authorities were seemingly too quick to remove a child from their home, placing them in a more-dangerous situation. Just last week, two other agencies were sued for their alleged role in the drowning death of a 20-month-old in a Harrowgate foster home.
The lawsuit over Nayshaun’s death asks the inverse question: Why was a child allowed to remain in a house that was dangerous, without safeguards?
In February 2019, when Nayshaun was 6, DHS received reports that Clayton’s boyfriend, a registered sex offender, was living in the house and made “grooming statements” to the child, the lawsuit says.
A DHS investigation found that Nayshaun demonstrated concerning sexualized behaviors for his age, the suit says, but closed the case after concluding that the boyfriend didn’t live in the house.
Nayshaun was referred to Turning Points for therapy, case management, and in-home monitoring. Clayton refused to take Nayshaun to therapy, or to sign paperwork for the child to receive services through the city’s behavioral health Medicaid agency, the complaint says.
Turning Points terminated services for Nayshaun within five months, according to the lawsuit. The organization sent a “clear and deadly message” to Clayton that “medical and therapeutic neglect of this vulnerable child would be tolerated without accountability,” the complaint says.
For the next four years, the suit says, Clayton oversaw Nayshaun’s care without oversight despite chronic truancy, missed medical appointments, and reports from school officials on the child’s untreated asthma. The city received complaints about conditions in the house, according to the lawsuit, but DHS would deem the allegations unfounded after brief investigations.
The complaint says Greater Philadelphia Community Alliance was also contracted by the city to supervise Nayshaun for a period in 2023, and accuses it of failing to provide him with proper support.
In the 2023-24 school year, Nayshaun missed 20 days in the first few weeks, the suit says. Sullivan Elementary’s school nurse attempted to contact Clayton at least 13 times to flag concerns about his asthma, lack of a rescue inhaler, and repeated absences.
Nayshaun suffered an asthma attack in school in early September, the suit says. When the nurse couldn’t reach Clayton, she called 911 and made a report to DHS.
“The school nurse explicitly told DHS she believed Nayshaun was being neglected and that his life was at risk without his rescue inhaler,” the lawsuit said.
DHS scheduled Nayshaun for two medical appointments in mid-October, and arranged transportation. But Clayton refused to take him, the suit says.
On Oct. 19, DHS closed the medical neglect investigation as “unfounded,” the complaint says. Nayshaun died nine days later.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, but Riley Ross, the Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross attorney who filed the complaint, said he also wants answers.
“We want to find out why DHS and these community umbrella agencies failed on so many occasions to help and protect Nayshaun,” Ross said.