severe injury during PE class

[ChinaBeach]

My daughter was severely injured during a fitness run at her school at the beginning of the school year. We are located in WA.

She dislocated her foot and broke her tib and fib. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance where her foot was finally re-set. She had lost her pulse in her foot for about two hours. The same night she had surgery on her ankle and her bones have now screws, pins, a metal plate and wires attached to them. The surgeon did an excellent job and she is healing nicely. She will need more surgery this summer. So far the medical bills have totalled $25.000,00 and there are more to come with the additional surgery. Unfortunately we had no medical insurance and are now paying the bills ourselves. The student accident insurance had not kicked in yet, we mailed the form and check but they had not received it.

My question is regarding the liability of the school. The insurance company for the school 'will deny any claim filed against the school' <curious wording there> but the school itself, meaning the principal and staff, are under the impression that the school is paying for the medical bills.

The insurance is saying that we would have to show Third Party Liability (direct fault by the school, employees)to be able to file a claim. I feel that it is the direct fault of the school/PE teacher for selecting a running course that takes the kids through the parking lot(!!), around a football field, through a baseball field AND then on a perfectly maintained track. Shouldn't the kids run on the track, not through a parking lot??? BTW, the injury occured in the baseball field. Interestingly, the running route was changed the day after my daughter was hurt.

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[stephenk]

what caused your daughter to fall?

[ChinaBeach]

we are not sure....there was no hole in the ground however the grass was wet. She can't remember and we have found no witnesses. The school investigated and also came up with nothing.

I wonder where the teacher was?! Another student actually had to get a different teacher to help and the other teacher, not her PE teacher, also notified me.

[stephenk]

you have a very tough case. Running on a baseball field is not negligent. We all have seen baseball games, right?

If she just slipped on the wet grass, again, that is not the fault of the school. The argument would be that she should have slowed down or been more careful running on the wet grass.

Sometimes accidents just happen without anyone being at fault. Be glad you have the student accident insurance. This is the type of incident that it is for.

[stealth2]

Have you ever heard of running cross country?

[ChinaBeach]

Thank you stephenk for your response.

You confirmed what I was thinking but I had to ask.

[ChinaBeach]

stealth2....I sure have but this 'fitness run' wasn't labeled as such and a track is available for running. Seems to me that running on a well maintained track would be the way to go. <shrug>

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by stealth2

Have you ever heard of running cross country?

**A; is that how people get from CA to Japan?

[teflon_jones]

Originally Posted by ChinaBeach

stealth2....I sure have but this 'fitness run' wasn't labeled as such and a track is available for running. Seems to me that running on a well maintained track would be the way to go. <shrug>

You're not the PE teacher, and that's who decided the running course. Based on your posts, the school is not at fault.