My nephew broke his arm at school -should his parents sue?

Question

My 12 year old nephew broke his arm in PE class. It was the last lesson of the day. The PE teacher didn't take my nephew to hospital because he thought there was nothing wrong with his arm and "he had a lot of marking to do" (I'm deadly serious). My nephew had to travel four miles home by bus (changing buses) on his own and his parents took him to hospital that evening. I'm usually against this sue/compensation culture but on this occasion I've changed my mind. What do you think?

This isn't about money for me. I'd just like to see the S.O.B fired,

Interestly, my nephew had previously broken his other arm skateboarding the previous year and knew what a busted arm felt like. He told the teacher this! He got less than 30 seconds examination. Bear in my mind too that my nephew was crying from the pain.

Answer 1

no, i don't think you should sue, I can understand your upset over the dismissive attitude toward his injury but sometimes the teacher has to make a decision based on what he ( or she ) can see. If the child was complaining of some pain in his arm, then this could be misinterpreted as just a knock (which we all have had at some time) if he was on the ground screaming in agony then I would have expected the teacher to call an ambulance straight away. I think sometimes the expectation of "duty of care" put on to teachers and other carers is an impossible situation.
How would you have felt if he had called an ambulance and you had to go and spend 5 hours in casualty just to find out he had a bruise. Accidents happen
Give my best wishes to your nephew, and make sure the teacher signs his plaster.

Answer 2

First, tough situation. I feel that people sue to often, as a way to get rich quick.

But this situation was clear negligence. trying to avoid the problem by pretending it didn't happen. Your nephew must have said there was something really bad, and he did not even get a few seconds of examination I would bet.

I am in Canada, and we have many services that offer free consulting. I am sure any lawyer could spare 15 minutes to hear what happened and use their experience to say what should be done.

Certainly compensation is due for the inconvenience and pain that will be experienced. It will also help the teacher be less lazy in the future, and encourage the school board to design better procedures for injuries. This could even be part of a settlement.

It's a chance to do good for others. Immediately write down all details everyone can remember, a list of possible witnesses and contact the lawyer. The documentation of time of Dr. visist, timeline of events and what the teacher said can all be useful. Just because you file a lawsuit does not mean it has to go to trial. Most likely it will be settled. I say go for it.

Answer 3

And there was me thinking that while children are in school the teacher is responsible for their health and well-being, who cares if it was the first or last lesson of the day, that teacher had no right ignoring your nephews pain and theory did he, fancy sending the poor lad home on his own with his arm broken and in so much pain, did this nasty uncaring teacher think he had better things to do that evening, tuff, it was his responsibility to get your nephew either to the hospital or to make provisions for him to get their, to telephone his parents and make sure they were informed of the situation too, anything could have gone wrong, the break could have been a severe one that required an operation, it could have stopped the flow of his blood because of the break, Jesus I would so sue this school and big time, how dare they think they can just treat children with such disregard, get your family to go for one of them free half hour solicitor visits, you'll find their names in Thomson Local directory or Yellow pages, they will tell you if you have a case to put forward and I sure think they have one don't you, I agree its not always about the money, your nephews care and welfare were put in jeopardy and that is much more important and any teacher worth his.her salt would realise that too, good luck and hope your nephew is on the mend soon.

Answer 4

The same thing happened to my daughter when she was only eight, she fell down some steps. the teacher did all she could and send he home as this was at home time. when she came hame my wife and I took her to the doctors and after being examined we were told that it was not broken. Later that night my daughter was in a great deal of pain so we took her to the hospital, yas it was broken. who's fault was it? Schools today are wrapped up in so much red tape, due to all the PC and how to deal with people to avoid being sued etc, so what do you expect the scholl to do, thay are not trained doctors, thay do not have an exray department, and they need parents premission to take them out of school. I am a first aider and work for young peoples groups in my free time and know how hard it is to try to give help but also keep a distance due to being labled as child molesters. I don't think it will help the injured party by getting money from the education department, I don't think so. just put it down to being one of lifes accidents which we all have and lets be trueful here, we can't always blame others for what happens to us. I would however write to the school or your local counceller about the incident and that it could have been treated better.Also any money taken out of the education system means less to spend on your local school. Good luck with what you decide.

Answer 5

The first thing you should do is make sure that you have all of the facts correct by doing a little investigation. Once that is done there may be other means of correcting the problem such as contacting the school authorities like the principal or superintendent. You may think about pressure from the press or other political leaders. If you have done those things without any satisfaction, suing may be the only way to get the schools attention and avoid this happening to others.

Answer 6

What exactly would your nephew sue for? You haven't provided any information that the school or the teacher was responsible for causing the injury. Therefore, you have maybe a few hours of pain and suffering for the failure to immediately treat the injuries and that is assuming that the teacher had AUTHORITY to provide treatment.

Furthermore, the doctrine of sovereign immunity will protect government entities from liability under most circumstances. Of course the laws of your state may be different.

Finally, you should seek the assistance of local attorney who has experience in asserting claims against governmental entities.

Answer 7

Take it up with the board and the administration before you get an attorney. See if there can be some form of punishment of the teacher. You don't want to punish the whole school, just the guilty party. I took one of my daughters to the ER and they missed her broken arm. IN THE ER. I actually pointed out the break on the X-ray, and they told me it was something else. I called a lawyer about that and he told me the best thing to do would be to complain to the admin of the hospital. He said with the money being put out for a lawsuit would not justify what we may get in return.

Answer 8

Obviously the teacher and the school didnt take enough responsibility of your nephew. Therefore you should definitely sue!!

Your nephew BROKE his arm!! what kind of a PE teacher is that teacher if he cant recognise a broken body part?!!

He had a lot of marking to do? oh puleeeeeeeeeeease!! surely a persons body is more important than marking!!!

Definitely SUE!!!

Answer 9

What is the motivation here? Punishment fo the teacher? Compensation for doctor bills? Getting something for nothing? The teacher will be protedted from litigatio nby the schools insurance, so there isn't anything the ywill do to him personally. Why give a ******* dime to some attorney? Will it change anything to sue? Probably not.

Answer 10

What would it achieve unless you wanted the money? Complain to the head-teacher about the PE teacher's negligence and get him sacked. Far more satisfying. Only sue if you want the cash. Personally I'd do both. You don't mention how exactly your newphew broke his arm? I suppose it partially depends on how your nephew broke his arm (ie was he messing around - was it his fault?). In any case, from what you describe, the teacher was negligent in not providing suitable aftercare.