Nanakuli foster child’s death
blamed on a penny
A 1-year-old Nanakuli boy -- whose death in April prompted calls for an investigation of the state Child Protective Services system -- apparently suffocated after ingesting a penny, the city medical examiner says.
In an autopsy released Monday, Deputy Medical Examiner Gayle Suzuki determined that Kealii Keahi, under foster care since last June when CPS workers took custody of the child, died of accidental causes.
Suzuki said the autopsy found a penny lodged near Keahi's throat, which probably "blocked the airway long enough to cause death."
Suzuki said the penny may have been stuck in Keahi's system for a period of time and may have been the cause of respiratory problems that had been attributed to asthma.
The boy's parents, Shanda and Lambert Keahi, had no comment. In April, Family Court Judge Paul Murakami issued a protective order that forbid the couple from speaking about the case.
Keahi is one of 10 children to have died this year while under CPS custody or CPS investigation. That compares with four deaths in 2002.
Of the 10 deaths this year, seven were ruled accidental. Causes in the three remaining cases have not been determined.
State lawmakers have asked Gov. Linda Lingle to appoint an independent investigator to review the circumstances of the infant's death and examine CPS's handling of his custody case.
State Rep. Michael Kahikina, chairman of the House Human Services and Housing Committee, said CPS has not responded to his inquiries about the boy's death.
Lillian Koller, newly appointed director of the Department of Human Services, which oversees the CPS system, said she hasn't seen the autopsy and couldn't comment.
In the past, Koller said she would welcome any investigation that would improve the CPS system, which oversees more than 4,800 children in foster care each year.
On Monday, the House Human Services Committee held the first of nine neighborhood forums on the CPS system in Nanakuli. During the forum, whose participants included DHS's Koller, more than a dozen parents and foster parents complained that the CPS system is not working.