Is the school partially liable??

[RareBreed]

Got a call yesterday afternoon saying that my son cut his finger open on his Gym locker and I needed to pick him up immediately. I told the Nurse that I work in Northern VA and it would take over an hour to get there. Nurse said it was bleeding really bad and would need stitches. I told her to call my husband who works in St Mary's. Son ended up needing five stitches and the Dr was getting concerned because every time he would try to stitch, it would bleed a lot so it must have been pretty deep.

Now here's my question. Didn't think much of it since it was an accident but once others started seeing his finger, they were asking me if we were going to get the school to pay for his medical bills since it happened at school because of an apparent sharp edge of a locker. I would imagine if the school knew that the locker had such sharp edges and did nothing about it, they could clearly be held liable. But is the school at least partially liable for what happened since they should be checking things like that to make sure there are no issues? I'm thinking about at least emailing the Principal to make her aware of what happened so that it can be fixed/replaced as soon as possible.

 

[Larry Gude]

This sounds good to me;

I'm thinking about at least emailing the Principal to make her aware of what happened so that it can be fixed/replaced as soon as possible.

Ask them about reimbursement after that. Primary goal is your kid is OK. Second is it gets fixed. Third is the money. They probably have some policy so, ask. The main thing is getting it on record. That is a nasty cut.

 

[RareBreed]

This sounds good to me;

Ask them about reimbursement after that. Primary goal is your kid is OK. Second is it gets fixed. Third is the money. They probably have some policy so, ask. The main thing is getting it on record. That is a nasty cut.

Yep, like I said, we aren't focused on getting money from the school. Just want them aware of it and hopefully get the locker fixed. If they offer some reimbursement, that's great but not our main goal.

 

[vraiblonde]

The school couldn't possibly know that the locker had a sharp part until someone told them. It's not like they have people who inspect each locker every day.

That said, I do think they should pay for your kid's medical bills. If you were suing them for a million dollars pain and suffering, that would be one thing, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for reimbursement for anything your insurance won't cover.

And certainly you would notify the school of the sharp locker edge so they can fix it.

 

[lovinmaryland]

Poor lil dude! Yes I agree I'd email them so they fix it and check other lockers and ask about $ to cover anything insurance didn't take care of.

 

[GWguy]

You can write the school and make a notification, but don't expect them to actually fix/repair the lockers. The man-hours alone to inspect each and every locker and then make repairs will cost a pretty penny. Expect the school to say there is no budget for such a project. And then take to logical progression of parent insistence to fix and a proposal for increased taxes to cover it.

 

[Clem72]

Guess i'll be the only one to fall on the personal responsibility side of the argument here. This isn't an obvious case of gross negligence, so the school isn't any more at fault than the company they hired to install the equipment or the manufacturer. The world has sharp corners, take your lumps and move on.

 

[pelers]

I don't think I'd expect the school to pick up the out of pocket medical costs (never hurts to ask, I suppose), but requesting that they fix his locker is certainly reasonable.

 

[RareBreed]

Guess i'll be the only one to fall on the personal responsibility side of the argument here. This isn't an obvious case of gross negligence, so the school isn't any more at fault than the company they hired to install the equipment or the manufacturer. The world has sharp corners, take your lumps and move on.

No, I agree with you. Knew it was his own fault. The reasoning behind the email to the school was to A: bring it to their attention and B: to ask that my son be able to use another locker until either it gets fixed or to prevent future injury. If the school offers reimbursement, great. If not, ok but if I made them aware of the problem and they choose to do nothing, I hope no other kid does the same thing in the future. If it bled bad enough to have the Nurse call me in a panic, it must have been pretty deep.

 

[vraiblonde]

Don't schools carry insurance for this sort of thing? RB, if you don't want to pursue reimbursement that's your choice, but don't not do it because you think it's going to hurt the school or makes you a petty person. That's what insurance is for and why they have it. Plus, the claim is legit - your son hurt himself on school equipment that wasn't properly maintained.

:shrug:

 

[RareBreed]

Don't schools carry insurance for this sort of thing? RB, if you don't want to pursue reimbursement that's your choice, but don't not do it because you think it's going to hurt the school or makes you a petty person. That's what insurance is for and why they have it. Plus, the claim is legit - your son hurt himself on school equipment that wasn't properly maintained.

:shrug:

Not sure what I want to do actually. Didn't really think about pursuing it until others said something about it. Once that was pointed out, it made sense. I know that school can't go around and check every locker but the fact that a serious injury did happen needs to be addressed too. Hopefully the Principal responds to my email and her response (or lack thereof) will dictate what the next step will be.

 

[RareBreed]

Response from Principal:

Thank you very much the email. I was informed of the incident and I apologize that your son was hurt. Please know that we have put in a work order to have this issue resolved.

Well, at least she was informed prior to my email and they are getting the locker repaired. I'm good with that. Not going to worry about reimbursement as it was just a fluke accident.

 

[lmor]

I think that your actions and response are appropriate for the situation. Accidents happen. The school has taken the correct actions. I am not sure if your said your son's locker has been changed. If not yet, he should ask for a new locker. Hopefully the school is not overcrowded and a locker is available.

 

[catlingirl]

Response from Principal:

Thank you very much the email. I was informed of the incident and I apologize that your son was hurt. Please know that we have put in a work order to have this issue resolved.

Well, at least she was informed prior to my email and they are getting the locker repaired. I'm good with that. Not going to worry about reimbursement as it was just a fluke accident.

That's awesome that the Principal got back to you about the situation and will be taking care of it.