Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

[KeyWestBoater]

My son broke his arm at school yesterday after being pushed down by another child during recess. We went to the ER yesterday where they put his arm in a temp cast. This will require a follow up to the ortho doctor for a regular cast and probably some other visits. When I called the school to ask them for their insurance info they were dodgy and said I needed to file through my insurance. Also they were evasive when I mentioned that they were ultimately responsible for any charges not covered by the insurance. My opinion is that it should be billed through the school's insurance and any uncovered charges billed directly to the school since this occurred on school property, during school hours and during their watch. Am I correct? I would like your opinions please!

Thanks,
KWB

 

[ehenry]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

KWB, I hate to tell you but you're on the hook for all expenses unless things are different down there than they are up here.

My son was playing chase on the playground when he was little, ran in to the monkey bars and had to get stiches. Who you think footed the bill for that? Me. He broke his arm at a little league field chasing a foul ball. I was responsible for the medical bill. Same son played high school sports and I was responsible for the medical bills for every injury he recieved on the playing field from concusions to shoulder injuries to a torn ACL in his knee.

My suggestion to you is get an accident policy on your children for things like this. If the same kid pushed him down in your neighbors yard who do you think would be responsible? Your neighbor?? no.....YOU are.

I really hate to bust your bubble on this.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Would it be frivolous to file suit against the offending student parents or guardians in order to cover your medical bills ? I think not, providing there is ample evidence that the aggressor is at fault.

What if they cannot pay up, would you be out of luck ? Perhaps, but all is not lost.

Can you prove that the school encouraged, or is responsible in anyway for the other student attacking your child ?

 

[dingbat]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Would it be frivolous to file suit against the offending student parents or guardians in order to cover your medical bills ? I think not, providing there is ample evidence that the aggressor is at fault.

What if they cannot pay up, would you be out of luck ? Perhaps, but all is not lost.

Can you prove that the school encouraged, or is responsible in anyway for the other student attacking your child ?

Got to love ambulance chasers.

Perhaps the kid was on some sort medication that caused him to do it. That way he could sue the drug company for $$$ Millions over a simple playground accident

Just file on your insurance and let the insurance companies fight it out.

My wife sprained her ankle a while back and was sent numerous questionaires by our insurance asking if someone other than herself was responsible for the injury.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Got to love ambulance chasers.

Perhaps the kid was on some sort medication that caused him to do it. That way he could sue the drug company for $$$ Millions over a simple playground accident

Just file on your insurance and let the insurance companies fight it out.

My wife sprained her ankle a while back and was sent numerous questionaires by our insurance asking if someone other than herself was responsible for the injury.

Hmmmm.....
I would think that the school would have to be proven negligent.....
The other boys parents might bear some responsibility depending on the circumstances.....
You will need to talk to someone who practices law in Florida for true answer....
I say, unless this is a 'bully' issue.....
Boys will be boys.....

 

[ehenry]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

You go, DingBat ! I guess I could have sued the maker of the monkey bars for making them too hard. The maker of the bat that hit the foul ball,the maker of the helmet because my kids head wasn't as hard or thick as the other kids head was or the maker of the cleats he wore when his knee was hurt cause his foot didnt give when his leg was hit.

I could really add to this list since he's 20 years old and in college now. I'm not trying to make light of this at all but the point I'm trying to make here is.....he's your child, you take a risk every time he walks out your door and you are solely responsible for him and what ever happens to him beit an accident or anything else. It doesnt matter whos watch you perceive it to be on.

If you feel you or your child has truly been wonged in some way then get a lawyer and fight it court. Otherwise, like Dingbat said.....its a playground accident.

 

[zach103]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

my brother ripped his his muscle off his bone while playing basketball in gym class.. ill ask and find out who had to pay than ill tell you what hapened

 

[Ret USN CPO]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Yep. Boys will be boys and accidents happen. That's why we carry insurance. If the school was somehow negligent, that might be a different story.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Get the schools insurance information, it should be public record. Then file with your insurance company, and specify that your child was the victim of an unprovoked attacked on the school grounds, and supply the schools information. Your insurance company will collect from the school insurance and you will most likely be re-imbursed, nor not billed at all.

The best thing to do is let the insurance compaies battle it out.

If the first aid was called, the police may have also showed up and taken a report. Give that info to your insurance company also. The more you can indicate that this was an agressive attack, the less the chance that you will be held responsable for any expenses.

Kids bully kids all the time at school. Its nothing new. But the result of this confrontation is a broken arm, its is worth getting the police report, first aid report and any other info you can get and forward to your insurance.

My guess is that the school will pay your insurance co, and you will be out of the picture.

 

[KeyWestBoater]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Thanks everyone for your responses!

At this point I am not trying to assign "moral blame" on the school. I am not interested in suing anyone for damages. I am simply trying to determine fiscal responsibilty in this case. The school has told me that they do carry liability insurance. So I suppose that their insurance is for a purpose such as this? I will be talking to the business manager at the school later today and let you all know what happens.

Thanks,
KWB

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Depending upon the state, public school districts may not carry liability insurance. I have forgotten the legal theory. So, if you live in one of those states, then there is no recovery available.

As mentioned earlier, you should contact your health insurance carrier and let them deal with any third-party recovery.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

I would have your insurance company deal with the school. They have a lot more clout than you do. (no offense intended). And they know how to get what they want.

 

[Pierutrus]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

I would have your insurance company deal with the school. They have a lot more clout than you do. (no offense intended). And they know how to get what they want.

What he said, ^^^^^^^^

 

[KeyWestBoater]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

I forgot to mention that it's a private school. The school left a message that mentioned that they had insurance info. I will find out and post what happens!

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Why did the other kid push your kid down? Were they "just boys being boys"? If so, it's on you. Or, was the other kid "assaulting" your kid? If so, it is on the other kids parents. I don't see anything frivelous if the second scenario is the case.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Herein lies a perfect example of the Deep Pockets Syndrome that the Legal community has infected us with, ie, go after the ones with the money regardless of their culpability and to train the populace to think that this is the right and moral scheme of things. Seems like they have done a pretty good job, huh?

A simple illustrative example is that on an icy day you slip and fall in the parking lot of a store. Act of nature, right? Wrong! It is the responsibility of the parking lot owner.

It is a vehicle that is foisted on us by legislators that are predominantly attorneys. Lawyers cannot make money if their is no one to sue. Insurance companies are not blameless either. The more they can make someone else liable for your problems, the more insurance they can claim you need to pony up for. Don't forget, insurance companies on the whole, keep some percentage (as profit) of our collective premiums even after claims are paid out. The more calculated premiums they collect, the more profit.

It is a sad state of affairs that we, as a society, are the worse off for.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Trying to hold the school responsible is rediculous . To be honest I personally wasn't happy reading this.

I would at least try and recover the damamge cost from the offending student's parents. If that didn't work then I know I would be stuck with it.

This reminds me of someone that is sue happy and would sue at the drop of a hat. Was your boy the cause of the fight? If your son was responsible for the fight, then I would just suck it up and pay, then tell your son see what you get for messing and fighting.

Was there any witness?

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

I'm with the WizeOne on this issue...................his response could have been mine.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

I'm sorry your boy broke his arm. That's a painful injury. How's he doing? You didn't mention that. I hope he's not in any pain following the ER visit, and I'm sure his arm will heal just fine.

As for liability, that's pretty much impossible to settle here on this forum. I'm assuming you have health insurance for your son. Your out of pocket costs should be low, in that case.

I doubt there's much of a cause for any legal action here. Kids fall down while playing. Kids break bones sometimes. Fortunately, they heal quickly. Having all his friends sign his cast...priceless!

 

[KeyWestBoater]

Re: Son broke arm at school. Who pays?

Trying to hold the school responsible is rediculous . To be honest I personally wasn't happy reading this.

I would at least try and recover the damamge cost from the offending student's parents. If that didn't work then I know I would be stuck with it.

This reminds me of someone that is sue happy and would sue at the drop of a hat. Was your boy the cause of the fight? If your son was responsible for the fight, then I would just suck it up and pay, then tell your son see what you get for messing and fighting.

Was there any witness?

First of all as I said in my earlier post, I am not looking to sue anyone "at the drop of a hat". Also your remark implies that it was a "fight" and my son was at fault. It was not a fight, there were witnesses and he was standing there minding his own business and was pushed down by another kid. My only concern is if this runs into excessive out of pocket costs or loss of function of some kind then then possibly try to get the parents to be responsible for at least some of the costs.

Thanks,
KWB