Johnson ate the peanut on the playground of her Chesterfield County elementary school, Hopkins Elementary, during recess. After noticing hives and shortness of breath, she approached a teacher and was taken to the school clinic. A clinic aid was trying to help her when she stopped breathing, according to police.
"When emergency crews arrived, she was already in cardiac arrest in the clinic," Lt. Jason Elmore, a spokesman for the Chesterfield County Fire Department, told ABC News.
An investigation by Chesterfield police concluded that Johnson died from cardiac arrest and anaphylaxis, and that no crime or criminal negligence was committed by the child who shared the peanut, school personnel or Johnson's mother.
About 75% of schools in the country have access to a school nurse, and about 25% do not have any access to a school nurse. Between 40% and 50% have a full-time nurse. There's not really a shortage of school nurses; there's a shortage of funded positions, said Linda Davis-Allbritt, president of the organization.
"Children need to have a school nurse so that their health conditions can be well-managed," she said. "Healthy kids do learn better."
It's rare, but it has happened that when there is a clear emergency, a school nurse would use an epinephrine injection that was prescribed for another student, she said. This action would be controversial, however -- one problem is that the other student could have had a reaction at the same time or shortly thereafter, and their medication would have been used.
"The cost of epinephrine is so much less than the value of a child's life," Davis-Allbritt said. "It would make a lot of sense to have epinephrine available, and have a school nurse in the building every day, and have people besides the school nurse who are trained in case there is an emergency.
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