Child breaks arm, school calls parent instead of ambulance - thoughts?

Sweet72947

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#1
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...ool-calls-instead-911-daughter-191021932.html

Fourth-grader Ally D'Eon suffered a nasty fall from her school's jungle gym on Tuesday, breaking her arm in two places. But her parents say the real offense occurred when school officials called the D'Eons to notify them of their daughter's injury, rather than calling 911 or an ambulance.

"The doctors in the emergency room and the nurses in the emergency room said, 'First aid 101, a break with a clear deformity needs an ambulance and it needs to be stabilized,'" Jenn D'Eon told WCVB.

The Lynn Daily Item reported that Veterans Memorial Elementary School Principal Jean Perry defended the decision, citing school district policy.

"The school nurse or another trained person will be responsible for administering first aid. When the nature of an illness or an injury appears in any way serious, every effort will be made to contact the parent and/or family physician immediately," the district policy reads, according to the paper.

Saugus Superintendent of Schools Richard P. Langlois also supported the school's decision in a statement, saying the "medical staff is fully qualified to make appropriate assessment and recommendation for treatment in such instances, and did so accordingly."

Nonetheless, Jenn D'Eon said the "case-by-case basis" school policy is ineffective and should be changed so that other students aren't left waiting in pain.

"I wanted to scream, 'Hurry up, get me out of here!'" Ally told WHDH.
some people side with the mother and think the school should have called an ambulance before calling her, and some people seem to think that the school's decision was ok since "the next thing you know the parent would be saying that the school had no right to make that decision."

What do you guys think?
 

sparks19

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#2
I think one person should have been on the phone with the parent while another person was calling 911. That way they can tell the parent "her arm is broken, so and so is on the line with 911 right now and waiting on an ambulance to arrive. Please get to the hospital"

When I was having an asthma attack at school one time my inhaler wasn't helping and even though I wasn't on deaths door the office tried many things to calm my asthma and then called 911 and got an ambulance there. They called my father after they called 911 and told him I was enroute to hospital.
 

RBark

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#3
Psh. These people. Back in my day we'd just duct tape a stick to their arm and send them back to class.
 

joce

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#4
I think they made the right call. Who gets taken away by ambulance for a broken arm?! And I can say even for kids having asthma attacks parents pitch fits about ambulance bills so it is an issue! damned if you do damned if you don't.

I could see if it was a bone sticking out, possible back injury, or she couldn't walk, or breathe. But parents should have been called and give the option to have the ambulance called.

My friends son just broke his arm during football practice at school. They sure didn't call the ambulance for him, and they didn't expect them to.

They can say bye to that jungle gym I bet.
 

LindaJD

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#5
For just a broken arm, I see nothing wrong with calling the parents first. A real serious injury, then call 911 as someone else is calling the parent. I wouldn't call an ambulance if my kids broke his arm, I'd drive them to the E/R myself. Seems like too many parents these days complain about anything and everything. They would probably have complained if the school called an ambulance first.
 

MandyPug

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#6
Ambulance trips aren't cheap so I imagine that some parents would like to decide if an ambulance is needed or I'd they can come get the child to take them in right away. I can see being a parent and then hit with that bill that maybe not every family can afford.i can see the school also being sued for calling an ambulance and being forced to pay hospital bills when the parent wasn't contacted right away. I think really the school is going to make someone upset regardless of who they call first.
 

sparks19

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#7
I'd say let them complain about you calling an ambulance. A complaining parent is better than a suing parent.

We just had safety day at the homeschool co op and the EMT's talked about broken bones and told the kids that yes you should infact call them for a broken arm or leg as it needs to be stabalized to help prevent any further damage to the tissue and/or nerves.

I broke my leg at the park when I was 8 years old in two places. we didn't have cell phones then so the teenage girl I was with had to piggy back me home and by the time I got to the hospital my leg was too swollen to cast so I had to stay overnight. So I think maybe I'd rather pay the ambulance bill than an overnight hospital stay bill.

but really I think just to cover their own butts the school should err on the side of caution and request medical assistance first so they don't end up with a law suit for not doing enough. it is the world we live in these days.
 

Fran101

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#8
If the kid is near death or it's a REAL emergency (kid is in real danger) of course, 911 first. But I believe policy in most places otherwise.. is to call the parents first.
Parents have a way of sueing schools for doing things.. so I kind of get the school covering their butts and calling the parents before to make sure.

Examples:

School calls 911. Ambulance takes kid to hospital. Parents get hospital bill (including ambulance fee) and sue school for money because they could've/would've taken the child themselves.

School calls 911. Ambulance takes kid. Hospital messes up/something happens/kid has an allergy the school didn't inform the EMTs of. Parents sue the school for taking the kid to the wrong hospital, or not calling them to take their kid themselves etc..

School calls 911. ________ (insert medical procedure/hospital chosen here) is against family's religion. Parents sue school and hospital.

School calls 911. Scared kid rides to hospital alone. Parents sue school for traumatizing their child .

etc..etc..etc..

Personally, I understand where the school is coming from.

Try the parents first, inform them and have someone else ready and talking to 9-11 ready to give them instructions.
 

sparks19

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#9
or delayed time in stabalizing the injury results in further damage and larger hospital bills, longer hospital stay, surgery....

School gets sued.

can't win.

so I say call both at the same time. call parent and tell them so and so is on the line with 911 and an ambulance is on the way. if parent then says NO it's Ok I'll come get them... the other person can tell 911 that :) then they cover all their bases
 

Maxy24

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#10
I don't know, broken arms can certainly be serious. My brother broke his arm falling out of a tree and the bone ripped through an artery and was pressing on a nerve (or something like that, I was a toddler so only know through stories). They were pretty sure he was going to loose the arm, thankfully they saved it with surgery, but waiting would have been a bad idea.


That said, I don't think a quick phone call to the parent first is a big deal in this case. If it were a case where they spent an hour trying to get a hold of a parent first then I'd understand being mad, but I don't think a quick call where the parent answered the first time would make a big difference.
 
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#11
It's one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations.

There's all the legalities of who can treat a minor without the parent or legal guardian's permissions that have cropped up. Look at the court battles there have been over parents with certain religious beliefs disallowing treatment of their children.
 

Snark

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#12
Makes me wonder if the school has the call parents policy precisely because they'd been sued for calling an ambulance before notifying the parents.

Not having kids - aren't parents made aware of all school policies when they enroll their children? If so, then the mother should have known the school was going to call her (or her husband) rather than the ambulance.

Maybe schools could/should offer release forms for parents to sign, stating they agree to have the school call for an ambulance before notifying them of an accident. With everything computerized, it shouldn't take much time to call up Jill or Johnny's record and see whether an ambulance can be called first.

That said, I worked with a woman whose 8 yr. old son broke his arm at school. The school called her and she told them she would pick him up... and then, she forgot. :eek: That poor kid sat in the nurse's office for 3 hours before the ditz finally remembered. Definitely a case where the ambulance being called first would have been better...
 

Xandra

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#13
It's not life threatening and if the kid is kept still and the parents are easily reached then big whoop. If the kid is left waiting longer than ~10 minutes before calling the ambulance, I can see why the parents would be pissed. I wouldn't be too pleased if the school made my kid wait in pain for 30 minutes or something while they tried to contact me to cover their ass, when I would never sue for something silly like that. When normal people are inconvenienced by a system based largely on stupidity they have every right to be pissed.

I guess the best option is to just have a little box on the medical card saying "if my child snaps one or more of their limbs falling from playground equipment, I want to be notified before an ambulance is called."
 

Kat09Tails

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#14
It's one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations.

There's all the legalities of who can treat a minor without the parent or legal guardian's permissions that have cropped up. Look at the court battles there have been over parents with certain religious beliefs disallowing treatment of their children.
You hit the nail on the head. It's amazing the kind of crap and I do mean CRAP schools are sued for and the STEAMING piles of nonexistent poop that parents complain about.

My sister got a complaint filed to the district this year from a parent whose kid didn't qualify for summer school that they allowed to attend summer school anyways "because it wouldn't hurt" because the kid didn't get enough one on one time with the school speech therapist during summer school as the school speech therapist doesn't work during summer and never has. o_O .... Can you guess what new policies were created for fear of being sued?
 

JessLough

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#16
I think they did it right. Ambulance costs money, unless its a life or death emergency, the parent should be given the choice to come pick up their child and drive them to the hospital.
 

Dekka

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#17
As a parent I am fine with them calling 911 first.

That said I want to know how long they try and get ahold of the parents before they just call 911. I mean if you can't get ahold of the parents right away does the kid just sit there in pain, upset and scared?

And a break can be very serious. A friend and former riding student recently broke her arm in two places in a bad fall. Multiple surgeries later she is on the mend but it was touch and go as to if there was going to be permanent damage. She also has trouble sleeping as she keeps having nightmares about the break. She heard her bones break when she fell and is having issues dealing with it and she is an adult...
 
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#18
Really, there should be a set protocol for how long -- provided it's not an immediate NEED TO GO NAOW sort of thing -- and maybe a form parents need to sign off on at the beginning of the year authorizing reasonable emergency transport and treatment in the event they cannot be reached.
 

JessLough

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#19
It's something like $200 after the amount health care pays is taken off for an ambulance for a broken arm/non life threatening here. My parents would be PISSED.
 

Dekka

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#20
I took it as this break had a deformity. That is an emergency and intensly painful. I would rather find the 200 dollars and have a child grow up with a working arm than have him sit around in an office in horrible pain whilst they tried to get a hold of me for an hour or two.
 

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