12-year-old girl admitted for inpatient psychiatric services died as staff failed to keep her safe and allowed her to walk freely while on suicide watch before she jumped off 4th floor

Washington – In a harrowing case in Washington that has drawn intense scrutiny and sparked legal action, the family of 12-year-old Sarah N. has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital where their daughter was admitted. The legal complaint accuses the facility and its staff of gross negligence after Sarah, who was under suicide watch, managed to leave her room unsupervised and later jumped from the hospital’s fourth-floor parking structure.

Sarah had been admitted to the hospital in January 2025 for intensive psychiatric treatment following months of severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. Her treatment plan included strict 24-hour supervision to prevent any further self-harm. According to the lawsuit filed by her mother, Nasra G., the hospital had a clear duty to protect her daughter — a duty it tragically failed to uphold. Crucially, the lawsuit reveals that the hospital removed both the staff member assigned to monitor Sarah and the video surveillance equipment from her room, without replacing them or providing alternative safety measures. These actions, the suit claims, left Sarah vulnerable, alone, and at serious risk, despite her known mental health history.

On April 13, 2025, that risk turned into a devastating reality. With no one watching, Sarah left her hospital room and, according to the lawsuit, was able to “walk freely” around the hospital. No one stopped her. No staff intervened. She made her way to the fourth floor of the hospital — a location she should never have been able to reach. There, she jumped. Though Sarah survived the fall initially, the injuries she suffered were catastrophic. The complaint describes the trauma to her lower body as devastating, and while medical teams fought to save her life, they could not undo the damage. In her final moments, Sarah endured “fear, pain, and suffering” — a fact the family included in their filing, emphasizing the emotional and physical toll inflicted by the hospital’s failure to protect her. Her death, layered in tragedy, became the center of a deeper controversy just months later.

In August 2025, local news sources revealed that 15 nurses at the hospital were fired following internal investigations. According to the report, the hospital terminated their employment for allegedly violating HIPAA laws by accessing Sarah’s private medical records after her death. Another employee was also disciplined. The Washington State Nurses Association, however, strongly opposed the firings, calling them retaliatory. They argued that the nurses were trying to understand the incident and were responding to a crisis. Washington State Nurses Association director issued a statement defending the nurses’ actions, saying they had been “called in to assist with care and provide information related to a patient’s treatment.” He added that the nurses were simply doing their jobs as part of emergency efforts to save Sarah’s life, and stated, “We reject the hospital’s claims that privacy was violated by nurses who were doing their jobs.”

While the lawsuit filed by Sarah’s mother in May does not mention the terminations or demand any specific disciplinary action, it firmly holds the hospital and its staff accountable for the conditions that led to her death. The complaint charges the institution with negligence, asserting that its failures directly led to the loss of Sarah’s life. In response, on August 7, the hospital filed its official answer in court, denying all allegations of wrongdoing. The hospital also requested a jury trial, which has now been scheduled for July 2026. The case is expected to bring renewed attention to standards of psychiatric care for minors, hospital responsibility under suicide watch, and the aftermath for staff caught in the middle of institutional failure and public tragedy.