A New Jersey nurse taking care of a 2-year-old girl in her home is accused of scalding her so severely that she had third-degree burns.
The girl, Destiny, is in critical condition after she was burned on Friday. Most of her injuries were on her lower extremities, and she is expected to be in the hospital for weeks.
Her mother told NBC 4 New York she arrived home from work to find the skin on her toddler's legs and feet bright red and swollen.
"Some skin came off in my hand," Mariam Khella said.
The child is cared for by nurses because she was born extremely premature, at 22 weeks, and needs extra monitoring of her heart and lungs.
The nurse claimed the redness was a rash, but Khella suspected her daughter had been scalded with hot water and called 911.
"I'm looking at her, 'What did you do to my baby?'"
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The 30-year-old nurse is accused of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.
The nurse had only worked for the family for a week, Khella said.
The nursing agency did not respond to a request for comment.
--Jen Maxfield contributed to this story
