An Indiana woman faces child neglect charges after investigators said her 4-year-old daughter nearly died from a lice infestation so severe doctors had to give her multiple blood transfusions.
Shyanne Nicole Singh, 26, has been held after the child was admitted to hospital in Scottsburg, Indiana, and found riddled with parasites. Doctors called the cops who were horrified to find the infestation of lice sucking her blood and draining her of oxygen, reports The Lexington Herald Leader.
The girl was unable to walk and needed four blood transfusions as her oxygen level was so dangerously low. Meanwhile, her six-year-old sister was also found to be infested with lice.
Court documents reportedly state a cop who saw photos of the girl said it was the worth infestation he had ever seen. Police say Singh failed to manage and seek medical treatment for her daughters’ lice infestations. Singh has been charged with several counts of neglect. Including neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury.
The mom was due to make her first appearance in court on Friday. Hospitals staff told cops they measured the girl’s hemoglobin levels when she was first admitted onto the ward, according to court documents. Hemoglobin is a key protein that carries oxygen through the body to the organs and gets rid of carbon dioxide.
Mom was “just too lazy”
In addition to this, healthy levels are around 12 grams per deciliter. However, hers was just 1.7, less than 20 percent of what they should have been. Doctors declared the girl’s levels were the lowest they had ever seen and warned the girl was a “near fatality”.
Police spoke to school workers who told said the six-year-old had lice for three straight days in March before she then missed 31 days of school. Her hemoglobin levels were 8.7 grams – which was low, but not critically low like her younger sister.
Child services removed the two girls from Singh and placed them in their grandparents’ custody. The girl’s grandma reportedly had asked the mom how they had got lice so bad. Singh reportedly replied she “didn’t notice” and she was “just in a fog”. The grandma also told the authorities the girls got lice in November. Their mom was “just too lazy to help comb them out and it would start all over again”, the grandma said.
By the way, did you know that a newspaper once said that taking selfies together can give you lice? Well, you never know!
Story Courtesy: ABC News
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