Relatives of a 10-month-old girl filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania daycare on Tuesday, weeks after the baby reportedly suffered an injury at the facility which left her without the tip of her finger.
Speaking to WPVI, Maliyah Leary’s family said the incident involving the infant occurred on August 6 at Principals Demonstration Preparatory Academy. Leary was reportedly transported from the day car to a hospital via an ambulance after the unexplained incident.
The infant’s mother, Barbara Busch, told the news station that she doesn’t know what happened to her daughter and who, if anyone, was watching her at the time. WPVI reported that the family was initially told that Leary got her finger caught in a door.
Busch recounted getting a garbled message from the daycare that said her 3-year-old daughter was injured. She said she arrived at the facility and found emergency crews treating her infant daughter instead.
Referring to the tip of the infant’s right ring finger, Busch said, “It was nothing there. The tip, the whole tip…it’s gone.”
The girl’s father claimed they’ve never gotten a “straight story” about how her finger came into contact with the door. As far as the injury goes, the mother said doctors will monitor her daughter’s finger and will possibly reconstruct it when she gets older.
The family’s attorney called the infant’s injury “preventable,” and said he hopes the lawsuit forces the daycare to improve their safety protocol.
An attorney representing Principals Demonstration Preparatory Academy declined to comment on the incident, citing pending litigation.
[Featured image: Maliyah Leary/WPVI video screengrab]