Do I have a case? And what would the statute of limitations on this be?

[autismmommy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My son has moderate autism. We are a military family. In 2011, we moved from Ohio to Florida on military orders. Both Ohio and Florida have signed in the Military Interstate Education Compact. When we arrived in Florida, the school district refused to follow my son's IEP. They placed in a classroom of 8 students with varying disabilities with one teacher. According to my son's IEP, he was to be in a mainstreamed classroom with an aide. Before we moved, my son graduated from kindergarten and was deemed ready academically for first grade. He was able to read, and could identify sight words.

About 6 weeks after we arrived here, my son had a tantrum in his classroom and banged his head against a desk 14 times (even though I signed a restraint waiver for incidences of self injury). He lost vision in one of his eyes for about 20-30 seconds. He was not sent to the nurse, I was not informed, until I picked him up. I took him to the ER, there the doctor said he did not have a concussion, and was cleared to go back to school. I pulled him from the public school 2 weeks later, and he was placed in a private school in January. I have since filed a state complaint, and it was found that the school district was in violation of the law, and when we return to school, the school district MUST place him in mainstreamed classroom with an aide per his last IEP.

My son has not progressed very much since the "head banging" incident, in fact he has regressed to being behavioral and cognitively a pre-schooler, and has lost most of his forward progress. He started to have seizures, and now has since been diagnosed with epilepsy. The location of the seizures are in the left temporal lobe, and are consistent with seizure activity associated from a brain injury. He lost his eyesight in his right eye. I would like to know if I have a case against the school district and if I were to decide to take legal action, who would I take legal action against? If because I filed a state complaint, does that mean I cannot take legal action? And what should be my next step?

Thank-you

 

[tranquility]

There are so many leaps and bounds there, along with a potential of great damages, the only thing you can do is see an attorney. I suspect you will not litigate as the cost to prove things would be too large, but you don't know until you see an expert with access to all facts.

 

[autismmommy]

There are so many leaps and bounds there, along with a potential of great damages, the only thing you can do is see an attorney. I suspect you will not litigate as the cost to prove things would be too large, but you don't know until you see an expert with access to all facts.

Thank-you...

I have documented proof of everything, including the IEP progress report (showing that my son had graduated Kindergarten and his current reading level), medical report, a DHS report that was "lost" by local law enforcement, therapists reports, and the neurologists statements.

 

[tranquility]

Thank-you...

I have documented proof of everything, including the IEP progress report (showing that my son had graduated Kindergarten and his current reading level), medical report, a DHS report that was "lost" by local law enforcement, therapists reports, and the neurologists statements.

The hard part will not be proving what happened, but the link between things. You are claiming the school district negligently allowed your son to damage his brain and cause seizures. You have to prove they could have prevented the spontaneous head banging AND that failure caused the damage which lead to seizures. Believe me, you are a long way from there.

 

[Just Blue]

Thank-you...

I have documented proof of everything, including the IEP progress report (showing that my son had graduated Kindergarten and his current reading level), medical report, a DHS report that was "lost" by local law enforcement, therapists reports, and the neurologists statements.

What is the EXACT DX of your child? Autism? Aspergers? PDD? ADHD??

 

[Silverplum]

The hard part will not be proving what happened, but the link between things. You are claiming the school district negligently allowed your son to damage his brain and cause seizures. You have to prove they could have prevented the spontaneous head banging AND that failure caused the damage which lead to seizures. Believe me, you are a long way from there.

I don't know that the head banging and the epilepsy diagnosis are connected, and I honestly don't believe the doctors wouldn't "know" this quickly, either.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001714/#adam_000694.disease.causes

 

[tranquility]

I don't know that the head banging and the epilepsy diagnosis are connected, and I honestly don't believe the doctors wouldn't "know" this quickly, either.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001714/#adam_000694.disease.causes

As I said in my first post, I don't think this will lead to litigation because of the proof issues.

 

[Just Blue]

As I said in my first post, I don't think this will lead to litigation because of the proof issues.

Agreed. Many ASD children have regressive issues.

 

[ecmst12]

There is a well established medical connection between head injury and seizures and cognitive dysfunction. THAT part of the damages will not be in question. No prior history of seizures, serious head injury, now seizures. Previous established level of cognitive functioning, serious head injury, now significantly reduced functioning. The bigger question will be if the school failed in its duty which allowed the injury to happen in the first place. That's the part that a lawyer will need to evaluate.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

OP will need to overcome a presumption that being in one room banging your head on a desk vs being in another room banging your head on a desk would have caused the issue to not happen. Further, OP would need to overcome the "hold harmless" agreement. Only a lawyer could address these issues.

 

[Silverplum]

There is a well established medical connection between head injury and seizures and cognitive dysfunction.

True.

THAT part of the damages will not be in question. No prior history of seizures, serious head injury, now seizures. Previous established level of cognitive functioning, serious head injury, now significantly reduced functioning.

The epilepsy link I posted stated that epilepsy is most often diagnosed beginning at age 5. It's not always connected to head injury. I don't necessarily *know* there is a 100% correlation here.

I do *know* you have much more medical expertise than I do.

The bigger question will be if the school failed in its duty which allowed the injury to happen in the first place. That's the part that a lawyer will need to evaluate.

I agree.
(Not that I agree the school has a "duty" to prevent the inevitable, just that I agree with the overall "lawyer to evaluate" part.)

 

[tranquility]

There is a well established medical connection between head injury and seizures and cognitive dysfunction. THAT part of the damages will not be in question. No prior history of seizures, serious head injury, now seizures. Previous established level of cognitive functioning, serious head injury, now significantly reduced functioning. The bigger question will be if the school failed in its duty which allowed the injury to happen in the first place. That's the part that a lawyer will need to evaluate.

Which head injury? The one that was witnessed in school, or any of a number of ones that could have happened unwitnessed? Oh, what is the temporal connection between this undiagnosed head injury (Remember, he went to the doctor and was cleared.) and the seizures? It seems like that while the OP wants to make a connection between the two, the OP is not the expert who will testify.

Some of those experts might say that mild head trauma with less than 30 minutes of unconsciousness is associated with a "barely" increased risk of developing epilepsy over the general population. The real relationship is with "severe" head trauma. (http://neurology.stanford.edu/epilepsy/patientcare/videos/e_12.html)

Severe head trauma can be defined as either loss of consciousness or amnesia for greater than a day or internal bleeding in or around the brain. Severe head trauma leads to epilepsy in about 15% of adults and about 30% of children. Injuries with actual penetration of the brain, like a bullet wound, are even more likely to cause epilepsy, about to 25 to 50% of the time.

ANOTHER medical connection is between seizures and autism. (http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/news/2013/05/16/wakeford/)

Seizures in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Seizures are a significant concern and are relatively common in individuals with ASD. In fact seizures are the most prevalent neurological disorder associated with ASD. While 1-2% of children in the general population develop epilepsy, the prevalence of epilepsy in ASD is much higher with estimates varying widely from 5% to 38%. Some individuals with ASD develop seizures in childhood, some at puberty, and some at adulthood. Although the prevalence of seizures by age is not well studied, recent studies suggest the risk of seizure remains high into adulthood. Seizures are associated with increased mortality and morbidity in individuals with ASD and are the leading cause of mortality in adults with ASD. Certain subgroups of individuals with ASD have a higher risk for developing seizures and epilepsy; these subgroups include individuals with comorbid intellectual disabilities, genetic abnormalities and/or brain malformations.

We could go on, but, while the OP wants to give facts that are suggestive the "barely" increased risk is related to the seizures, the comorbidity with autism is more likely. There is a lot of work and expert opinion to the OP to make BOTH links--the link of negligence causing the trauma and the link of trauma to the seizures.

 

[ecmst12]

The timing could definitely be problematic since it seems the injury happened around 2 years ago and we don't know how long after the seizures started or when any diagnoses were made.

I also thought the ER doc said he DID have a concussion....if no concussion was confirmed with a CT scan that could definitely be a big problem.

 

[autismmommy]

There is a well established medical connection between head injury and seizures and cognitive dysfunction. THAT part of the damages will not be in question. No prior history of seizures, serious head injury, now seizures. Previous established level of cognitive functioning, serious head injury, now significantly reduced functioning. The bigger question will be if the school failed in its duty which allowed the injury to happen in the first place. That's the part that a lawyer will need to evaluate.

My son had one recorded seizure, but when he had an EEG and MRI, there was no established cause of seizure, and no EEG evidence of the seizure.

The EEG that he had showed seizures two months after the incident, and the seizures got progressively worse. His development slowed after the incident as well, and so did his cognitive function. That's my primary concern was even though children tend to regress, my son went from functioning at a 5 year old level to functioning at a 2 year old level. Every specialist I have seen has said that the amount of regression at 9 years old is not normal regression.

The ER performed no tests, the doctor looked at his eyes, spent five minutes with me, and said all good, go home. Gotta love military medicine. He did file a DHS report because I had documentation that the school was supposed to intervene when my son becomes self injurious. I always sign these forms, because he can become self-injurious, but he has NEVER been that self injurious. My concern is that he stated he lost vision when he banged his head. I'm a certified personal trainer (athletic trainer) and a coach, so I have had concussion training. Concussions can be asymptomatic, especially if they are minor concussions. The doctor really had no authority to release us, but like I said, gotta love military medicine.

He's had three scans and the doctor who diagnosed him with epilepsy has seen him and monitored him well over 12 months. I know that the seizures could very well be related to his autism, they could also be related to subsequent head banging since the incident. I also know that I can't really prove anything.

I know that this school district has a history of mistreating children with disabilities. One family's child is scarred for life, because of bite marks he received at school. Another child, was made to sit outside in a restraining chair for 2 hours naked in December. Another child was told that the police were going to come and get him because he was "messy." 90% of the special needs students are placed in private placements. If this is the cause, i just want to stop the abuse/neglect before it happens to someone else.

 

[Silverplum]

My son had one recorded seizure, but when he had an EEG and MRI, there was no established cause of seizure, and no EEG evidence of the seizure.

The EEG that he had showed seizures two months after the incident, and the seizures got progressively worse. His development slowed after the incident as well, and so did his cognitive function. That's my primary concern was even though children tend to regress, my son went from functioning at a 5 year old level to functioning at a 2 year old level. Every specialist I have seen has said that the amount of regression at 9 years old is not normal regression.

The ER performed no tests, the doctor looked at his eyes, spent five minutes with me, and said all good, go home. Gotta love military medicine. He did file a DHS report because I had documentation that the school was supposed to intervene when my son becomes self injurious. I always sign these forms, because he can become self-injurious, but he has NEVER been that self injurious. My concern is that he stated he lost vision when he banged his head. I'm a certified personal trainer (athletic trainer) and a coach, so I have had concussion training. Concussions can be asymptomatic, especially if they are minor concussions. The doctor really had no authority to release us, but like I said, gotta love military medicine.

He's had three scans and the doctor who diagnosed him with epilepsy has seen him and monitored him well over 12 months. I know that the seizures could very well be related to his autism, they could also be related to subsequent head banging since the incident. I also know that I can't really prove anything.

I know that this school district has a history of mistreating children with disabilities. One family's child is scarred for life, because of bite marks he received at school. Another child, was made to sit outside in a restraining chair for 2 hours naked in December. Another child was told that the police were going to come and get him because he was "messy." 90% of the special needs students are placed in private placements. If this is the cause, i just want to stop the abuse/neglect before it happens to someone else.

Is "the doctor who diagnosed him with epilepsy has seen him and monitored him well over 12 months" also military? How about those who performed the three scans?