A Calumet City day care facility is being sued after 2-year-old Jaylin Branch Jr. died after experiencing a seizure in their care last month.
Jaylin, who had epilepsy, was taking a nap at Grandma Jones Daycare when he had a seizure and choked on his own vomit Feb. 20, according to attorneys representing Jaylin’s mother, Jasmine Bailey.
Bailey filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging Jaylin was left unsupervised during nap time, which allowed him to suffocate as staff members failed to respond to his seizure.
Grandma Jones Daycare referred questions to its attorney, Jeff Escher, who didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Bailey referred to her son, who she said stayed on a ventilator at the University of Chicago Medical Center on South Maryland Avenue in Chicago for four days following the seizure, in the present tense during a news conference Tuesday in Chicago’s Daley Plaza.
“Jaylin is amazing. He’s so bright beyond his years,” Bailey said. “One of my favorite things about my son, despite the fact that he’s 2-years-old, he knows how to count in Spanish.”
“He’s a gravitational pull,” said Jayln Branch, Jaylin Jr.’s father.
Bailey’s lawsuit alleges day care staff were negligent in leaving Jaylin unsupervised during nap time and, upon discovering his condition, failed to complete steps laid out in his action plan that could have saved his life.
The day care allegedly knew Jaylin had epilepsy since he was first brought there in October 2023, with his parents and Grandma Jones staff completing an action plan to handle any emergency situations that could arise from his condition, according to the lawsuit.
That action plan instructs day care staff to call 911 if Jaylin had a compulsive seizure for longer than five minutes, if he had repeated seizures without regaining consciousness or if he was having breathing difficulty, said Bailey’s attorneys, who work for C. Norris Law Group
Attorneys Cierra Norris and Evan Finneke also provided medication Bailey had provided to the day care to use during a seizure, which they said was left unopened Feb. 20.
Bailey is seeking $50,000 in damages from Grandma Jones Daycare, according to the complaint. She is also pushing for a state investigation into the facility.
“For other parents whose children are in day care, I would say to just make sure you’re doing a thorough look — check, check, check,” Bailey said. “I can’t express that enough. If you’re having a weird feeling, go up there and check.”
