Nurse accused of abusing special-needs child loses license

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville nurse is accused of putting a special needs child into scalding hot water.

On top of being charged with child abuse, he's lost his license because of it.

Edmund Omodu said he was trying to give the child a bath.

Omodu lost his Florida nursing license after he allegedly gave a 6-year-old special needs child a bath that caused burns to 17 percent of that child's body.

Action News Jax went to get Omodu’s side of the story on Monday. A man who said he was Omodu didn’t want to talk on camera. But he did tell Action News Jax he cared for the child and it was an accident.

In a police report from July 2015 said Omodu was the child’s nurse for about two years. The child can't speak and can't walk. The report also said Omodu had been warned about the home’s water being hotter than normal. But still, Omodu gave the child a bath in water temperatures that were tested to be 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

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“That is well over what we want to safely bathe infants, children, toddlers. You’re aiming for no more than 100 degrees in an older child,” said Vandana Bhide, a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic.

Action News Jax spoke with Bhide about the child’s injuries, which needed several skin-grafts.

“When you have skin grafts it suggests that it’s a third-degree burn, so it’s the most severe type of burn that you can get,” Bhide said.

The report said a reasonable caregiver should have been able to prevent these injuries.

Dr. Bhide has a few suggestions for parents to make sure bath temperatures are right. One suggestion is to use baby bath thermometers rather than glass thermometers. She says they’re more accurate and come in shapes like ducks or frogs. Also, she said you can get a temperature regulator for the tap.

Omodu told Action News Jax that he’s now facing a civil suit from the child’s family and that’s why he doesn’t want to talk.

Cox Media Group