Injury in School yard

[DWaluck]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

While at recess during the regular school day, my 8 year old daughter was injured on the playground.

She was playing on the monkey bars and, she reports to me no teachers were present, that she was using the equipment appropriatly and met a slippery bar - she fell, landing on her back. Her left forearm smacked the ground so hard that both the radius and ulna were broken. The break put her arm at a 45 degree angle.

Under the monkey bars was hard as cement dirt. No padding, wood chips, or grass. Michaela says there was a little bit of sand near by.

This injury occurred a week ago Wednesday and I am starting to get the bills.

I had, originally, no intention of filing any kind of lawsuit, however as I start adding up the bills we have, and anticipating the bills coming - I am getting a little concerned. Not to mention the time off work that both my husband and I have had to take.

I do have medical insurance which is paying a good portion of the bills, but my copay for the ER was 100.00 and I have to pay 10% of the bill as well. I have not received the bill from the hospital yet. To make matters worse, the first hospital didn't have a way to help Michaela so we had to have her transported by ambulance to another hospital ER. I have to pay 10% of that bill. I do not know how much the ambulance rides will cost (the bill is going to the insurance, but I don't know if it will be covered at all - it is currently 858.00)
The copay for her pain meds was 7.00 - a small amount, but it is adding up. The copay for the specialist for her cast was 30.00 plus I will pay some percentage of that and we have to have at least two more visits to the specialist... Because the doctor could not remove the temporary splint yesterday, he put a temporary cast over the splint. Dr. said that if he removed the splint, the bones which were set under general anesthesia, would just fall out of place at this point.. so we go back for a permanent cast when more healing has happened.

My husband and I missed two and a half days work initially - we were called out when the injury occurred and spent the next two days home with her as she was in severe pain. I will need to take more time off to take Michaela to more doctor appointments - in two weeks, I will need half a day off then any follow ups and then cast removal. We have another couple of days coming in time off... at least.

It is really adding up.

Since the incident, the school will not allow any child on the monkey bars and will be removing them. That's good stuff and I am glad no other child will be hurt.... but if they had put down the appropriate safety material in the first place, maybe my daughter would have been okay.

[stephenk]

was a report written up by the school regarding the ground condition under the bars? Any photos?

you should consult with an attorney regarding the issue of the lack of padding under the bars. you have a limited time to make a claim against a city, county, or state agency (school district).

[DWaluck]

To my knowledge the school has not written any reports, nor have they asked me to sign any waivers or accident reports or anything at all.

I was called at work by the school nurse who advised that my daughter had severly fractured her arm. I asked if she had been taken to hospital. They said no - she was sitting in the nurses office. I told them to call an ambulance because if the fracture was that severe, there was no sense making her suffer while it took me an hour to drive to the school - so the nurse confirmed by phone that I authorized an ambulance ride and suggested the ER that my daughter was taken to.

No one from the school rode in the ambulance with her. She is 8 years old - it seems strange that she went unaccompanied to the hospital.... The school principal showed up much later in the evening stating she was just worried and decided to stop by on her way home from school.

The call came in to my office at 12:45 from the nurse
We got home after 9:00 PM

The nurse called the house the next day to see how Mikey was feeling and to tell us what a great patient she was and how brave she was getting all bandaged up. Of course, the paramedic in the ambulance said Mikey was very brave as well - right after he gave her the morphine....

[teflon_jones]

Arizona doesn't have any specific statutes regarding the responsibility of schools to make their playground equipment safe (at least nothing I could find). So while is might make sense to put wood chips, gravel, or some other kind of padding underneath the monkey bars, the school isn't required to do it.

If you can show a history of injuries on those monkey bars, and a lack of action by the school to address it, you may be able to prove some negligence on their part. However, the quick action on their part in shutting down the monkey bars (and planning on removing them) due to this incident leads me to believe that they probably haven't had any issues like this in the past, but now that they have, they're taking action on it. Unfortunately it took your child's injuries to show them it needed to be done!

So my initial analysis of this suggests that you aren't going to get anything from the school to cover the costs of your child's medical care, or any lost wages you have. But it won't hurt to file a claim with their insurance company and see what happens.

A note on the days you took off work; If you've had to take any days off without pay to take care of this, then you could request claim that lost pay in your claim. However, if you only had to use paid vacation/personal/sick days because of this, then you're not entitled to anything for those days because you were still being paid and didn't lose any wages.

[JETX]

Wow.... another hopeful person who is trying to win the 'Legal Lottery"!!!

Sorry, no winner. Your insurance will cover her injuries.

[DWaluck]

Originally Posted by JETX

Wow.... another hopeful person who is trying to win the 'Legal Lottery"!!!

Sorry, no winner. Your insurance will cover her injuries.

Ummm are you paying the copay's then? This isn't a legal lottery... this is real life. This is my baby girl being hurt. This is grocery bills for my family of 6. This is not about getting rich - its a public school for crying out loud - if I wanted to play the legal lottery I would have taken a tumble at the gas station... but it is my baby girl who is going to spend the summer watching her sisters swim while she keeps her cast dry. It is my baby girl who, according to the orthopedic surgeon, escaped surgery by the skin of her teeth. It is my baby girl who is getting a rash behind her neck from the sling she has to wear. Shall I continue???? And I am not even considering asking for any of that...
I just want the medical bills paid so that my credit cards aren't maxed out and that stress isn't hanging over our heads in addition to the injury my daughter has.

Michaela saw the ambulance bill and apologized... how fair is that?

I am extremly thankful that my daughter didn't get a worse injury and that the school is taking care of the problem equipment. That is commendable. I am glad that I have medical insurance because that does help... but the insurance won't pay for everything and what they don't I will... with interest.

[JETX]

Oh, jeeze.... here we go again!!!
First, we are not responsible for the fact that you have SIX people in your family!!
Second, unless you can show that the school (or someone else) is somehow negligent in the fact that YOUR 'darlin' little angel' fell down.... no 'legal lottery'.
Simply, life sucks sometimes.... and you have to pay the co-pay!!

If you don't want your 'darlin little baby girl' to get hurt.... lock her in her room and take away ANYTHING that might allow her to get hurt.

[DWaluck]

Originally Posted by JETX

Oh, jeeze.... here we go again!!!
First, we are not responsible for the fact that you have SIX people in your family!!
Second, unless you can show that the school (or someone else) is somehow negligent in the fact that YOUR 'darlin' little angel' fell down.... no 'legal lottery'.
Simply, life sucks sometimes.... and you have to pay the co-pay!!

If you don't want your 'darlin little baby girl' to get hurt.... lock her in her room and take away ANYTHING that might allow her to get hurt.

No one said you were responsible for the fact that I have six people in my family. It just happens to be a fact. I however, never said it was okay for a school to fail to protect my child in the best way it could... by simply attempting to make the playground safe.

BUT you are the one who assumes this is some kind of lottery. Kids get hurt, its true... does that mean then that it is OKAY for someone not to ensure the general safety of children in an area where children are likely to play and fall? Especially off of monkey bars which are 7 feet high and intended for kids to climb on?

I never broke my arm falling off the monkey bars and I don't remember a single incident when I was growing up of that happening in my school.. Oh, but... there were woodchips under the monkey bars....

[teflon_jones]

Originally Posted by DWaluck

No one said you were responsible for the fact that I have six people in my family. It just happens to be a fact. I however, never said it was okay for a school to fail to protect my child in the best way it could... by simply attempting to make the playground safe.

And how would they do this? Where do you draw the line? Should they put 2" of cushioning material under them? 4"? 6"? 12"? The school can't prevent all injuries and as I stated in my post, there are no laws governing how the school needed to have the playground equipment set up. You can easily break an arm or a leg or any number of other bones by falling off monkey bars with bark or some other form of cushioning under them.

Have you considered that this is your daughter's fault for falling in the first place? Yes, it stinks that you have to pay the deductibles you do, but that's your choice for having that health insurance. Your daughter needs to be more careful next time, which I'm sure she will be after this experience!

[JETX]

Originally Posted by DWaluck

No one said you were responsible for the fact that I have six people in my family. It just happens to be a fact. I however, never said it was okay for a school to fail to protect my child in the best way it could... by simply attempting to make the playground safe.

And here is where your 'logic' is screwed up. The school has NO obligation, legal or otherwise, to provide an absolute 'safe' playground for your child. The schools function is to EDUCATE.
When was the last time that YOU visited your childs school?? When was the last time that YOU, as a responsible parent, visited the playground to see how safe it might be?? Instead, the minute your little darlin' is injured, you try to find someone else to blame.

I never broke my arm falling off the monkey bars and I don't remember a single incident when I was growing up of that happening in my school.. Oh, but... there were woodchips under the monkey bars....

Yeah, and woodchips have been found to be unsafe also.
They get thrown by children... and injure eyes.
They get landed on.... and give scraps and splinters.

Disadvantages of your 'favorite protection' from a playground safety site:
Wood Chips and Shredded bark mulch
DISADVANTAGES:
* The protective ability of wood chips and shredded bark mulch is reduced in rainy, humid, and freezing weather conditions.
* Over time, wood chips and shredded bark mulch will become pulverized, compacted, and will decompose.
* Wood chips and shredded bark mulch can develop fungus and mold when wet.
* Insects are attracted to wood chips and shredded bark mulch.

There is NO safety net better than an aware, RESPONSIBLE parent (who doesn't try to find someone else to blame when LIFE happens).

[SingleMom67]

Originally Posted by DWaluck

Ummm are you paying the copay's then? This isn't a legal lottery... this is real life. This is my baby girl being hurt. This is grocery bills for my family of 6. This is not about getting rich - its a public school for crying out loud - if I wanted to play the legal lottery I would have taken a tumble at the gas station... but it is my baby girl who is going to spend the summer watching her sisters swim while she keeps her cast dry. It is my baby girl who, according to the orthopedic surgeon, escaped surgery by the skin of her teeth. It is my baby girl who is getting a rash behind her neck from the sling she has to wear. Shall I continue???? And I am not even considering asking for any of that...
I just want the medical bills paid so that my credit cards aren't maxed out and that stress isn't hanging over our heads in addition to the injury my daughter has.

Michaela saw the ambulance bill and apologized... how fair is that?

I am extremly thankful that my daughter didn't get a worse injury and that the school is taking care of the problem equipment. That is commendable. I am glad that I have medical insurance because that does help... but the insurance won't pay for everything and what they don't I will... with interest.

I wanted to skip this post, but felt it necessary to help you put things in to perspective. Since you're putting yourself out there as a "victim," I'd like to remind you that **** happens. Suck it up. Is it fair? Maybe not, but who ever said life is fair? Be thankful your daughter is okay and move on. I've got over $60,000 in medical bills for my son. And yes, that's what the insurance companies (I have two coverage policies for him!) DIDN'T pay. I'm a single mother who doesn't receive child support from a deadbeat dad. Do I whine? No. Do I look for someone to sue because of his medical conditions? No. I'm grateful each and every moment of each and every day for my son being alive. I suggest you try it.

[samk]

One time, I broke my wrist on the monkey bars at my school. I learned what sorts of monkey bar stunts I could handle successfully. (None.)

Another time, a few years later, I broke my wrist (the same one) on a swingset while attempting something foolish. Emphasis on 'fool'. Another learning experience.

[stealth2]

Accidents happen. Kids fall, break limbs, etc. That's life. Yes, it's hard to see your kid hurting, but it happens.

[loveumms]

Geeze Louise - breaking arms/legs and everything else is part of growing up. I can remember quite a few kids breaking bones, getting scrapes and all other injuries while on the school playground when I was a kid. Gosh, I got knocked unconscious playing soccer and was taken to the hospital where I had a $1500 CT scan. Did my mother try and blame the gym teacher for being negligent - NO! She paid the hospital bills and thanked the stars that I didn't have any permanent damage.

It is really sad that people are so willing to try and sue for everything that happens in life. Be thankful that your daughter attends a school where there are places to play outside. Better yet, be thankful that your daughter is healthy enough to be able to play outside - not everyone is that lucky. Be thankful that the nurse and teachers attended to your daughter as quick as they did, that the ER was able to set her fracture and she has not had any permanent damage. Be thankful that your daughter has learned a valuable life lesson and will have scars to show her grandkids while laughing about that time when she fell off the monkey bars and had to get a cast causing her to miss out on some fun summer activities. Having a cast is sort of a right of passage as a kid – you get it signed by all your friends, get to complain about how much it itches and have your mom take care of you.

Your expectations are ridiculous - you stated you had a $7 co-pay for her pain medicine. Come on now, do you really expect the public school system to pick up the tab for your co-pays? Also be thankful that you have insurance that is picking up some of the bills – if you can’t afford to feed your family of 6 b/c of an injury maybe you should budget a little more instead of trying to sue for an ACCIDENT (since after all it was your daughters fault for falling off the monkey bars – she could have fell or tripped causing the same outcome). Think about if you were to sue and win - you might get some money but, that money has to come from somewhere ... and since most of our countries school systems are in such financial hardships, its likely to come from some teachers salary or book funds. Better yet, it will come out of the play yard budget - so next year instead of having recess with equipment, your kid will be playing on nothing.