School Negligence

[Puck]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia. Our 3 year old son is a special education student diagnosed with Autism and multiple food allergies. He is enrolled in the pre-school special education program in Loudoun County, Virginia. His primary teacher for the regular school year is aware of his allergies and his file contains documentation of his food allergies. Currently our son is enrolled in summer school at a different location within Loudoun County. His file was transferred from his primary school to the summer school. The file clearly states his dietary issues and the foods he is not to be exposed to. This is an issue because he is receiving occupational therapy and during these sessions foods are used to teach him different textures to assist him in his swallowing abilities. In addition to the file containing his dietary concerns, my wife spoke to the school nurse in a face-to-face conversation on the first day of summer school to address our concerns for our son and the foods he will be exposed to during therapy. During this conversation the nurse stated she will speak to each of our son’s teachers and therapist regarding his dietary issues. A week subsequent to this conversation our son’s occupational therapist gave our son a full serving of oatmeal. Our son is highly allergic to oatmeal. The therapist stated she was unaware of his medical conditions. This is in an interesting statement considering it is in his health file and the nurse was made aware during a face-to-face conversation and the nurse stated she would speak to each of our son’s teachers and therapists. We believe we have an open and shut case of negligence. The school knew or should have known of our son’s medical condition, they had a duty of care to our son, they breached that duty and they were the direct cause of our son’s injuries, and he has been physically harmed as result of their breach of duty. It has been approximately two weeks since this incident and he is still suffering the ill effects of eating oatmeal. We have spoken to one of his doctors and we were informed that it could be months before he recovers. Do we have a case of negligence against the school, teachers, therapists, etc? If we do have a case of negligence will the school likely settle out of court or will it be a long drawn out battle? If we do have a case against the school where is our starting point for negotiating a settlement?

 

[Zigner]

First, it sounds like there are no long-term ill-effects. You *might* get medical bills paid out of this.

Second, if your child has such severe allergies, then you really need to be more proactive. A three year old can't tell somebody "I can't have that". Perhaps you shouldn't be sending your child to pre-school. Might be time to stay home and actually raise your child safely.