Sueing for gross misconduct / negligence / failing to report broken arm

[Kerrance]

Hi the situation is this my son whos just 3. This friday i picked him up from nursery at 5 (he goes 4 days aweek 9-5) he looked very pale and was irritable. Staff said nothing to me about ANY kind of injury/acident or voiced any concerns after arriving home i noticed he was holding hos arm in a strage postion, i saw his arm was very swollen. When asked about it his words were "i fell over at nursery and couldnt stand up B** (staff member) had to carry me", far from being very annoyed nothing was said. I try and call but its closed I applied cold compress and he eventually driffed off to sleep in my arms. Hours later he wakes with the most horrific cry.... We rush to AnE its now 7.45AM..... He is xrayed = greenstick fracture to his right wrist he is put in a semi pot banage to allow swelling to go down....monday morning is our app for full pot on.... My question is do i call the nursery in the morning and ask to see the RIDDOR report or should i arrange a meeting and ask for it then ( i dont want to allow then time to cover it up) which ever way its looked at they have been negligent in informing me of a serious injury / no one saw the fall (left unsupervised) breaching the duty of care/ it was logged as minor injury- if so they need to retrain staff in 1st aid and i want a full incident report and to know whom is held accountable ....... Am lost as to which is the correct approach and what to say to ensure im taken seriously and its dealt wiv properly.... Any help very much appreciated

[buildmeabuttercup]

Where on earth is your evidence for gross negligence and misconduct? By all means complain you should have been informed but suing, seriously? I'm suprised children are even allowed out because of people like the OP.

I don't understand what you want them to 'legally recognise' as their fault. Unless the staff pushed him over the injury isn't their fault, he fell, kids do all the time!

[Summerisle1]

I don't think this situation would be helped at all by starting at the 'sue you for gross negligence stage'. What you want (I presume) is to have a sensible discussion about the accident. If you go in threatening legal action then almost certainly, you'll get a defensive response that doesn't answer your questions.

Also, greenstick fractures are very hard to spot. As you, yourself have discovered. So I'd be asking reasoned questions. Not going in with litigious threats. Won't do anyone any good. Let alone your DS.

[Goldmandra]

Also, first aid isn't about diagnosing minor injuries. It's aimed at reducing distress, spotting potential life threatening conditions and managing them in ways that preserve life and limb until qualified medics can take over.

This child clearly wasn't particularly distressed and neither was his life at risk.

[bikeandrun]

My daughter broke her arm at a local event, I have seen her a lot more distressed after a small cut or a graze, a first aider said she needed to go to a and e, my initial thought was he was a bit of a fuss pot, got it checked out,she was happy and smiley chatting away to the registrar, who said she would x ray just as a precaution and low and behold a broken humerus. If I hadn't take to a and e straight away, which I very well might not have if it want for the st.johns guy who would i sue, myself?

[leedy]

[x-post with Goldmandra!]

[leedy]

Greenstick fractures can be reasonably hard to diagnose without x-raying. When DS had his last year the doc in A&E had no idea if it was broken or not until she saw the x-ray.

[Goldmandra]

There are very few signs of a greenstick fracture.

When my 14 month old broke her arm, the A&E doctor thought she had a pulled elbow and held her arm right on the break to manipulate her elbow.

[BreadmakerFan]

I just assumed that nursery staff would have sufficient training to spot the signs of a break. Wasn't saying they should have x ray vision!

[WinterOfOurDiscountTents15]

Some posters are missing the point by saying the mum didn't notice the break so how could nursery staff. Surely nursery staff are more first aid trained?

No missing the point. IF the childs own mother doesn't think its bad enough for A&E, and didn't think it was broken, why would you expect someone on minimum wage who also has maybe 7 other children to watch as well to do so?

[Goldmandra]

Some posters are missing the point by saying the mum didn't notice the break so how could nursery staff. Surely nursery staff are more first aid trained?

First aid training is far more about dealing with serious or life-threatening injuries and illnesses. It doesn't give you x-ray vision.

[BreadmakerFan]

Some posters are missing the point by saying the mum didn't notice the break so how could nursery staff. Surely nursery staff are more first aid trained?

[Icimoi]

I can't stand the thought of people suing schools. They barely have enough to scrape together the money for their TAs and teachers, let alone fleece the pockets of people suing.

As a matter of genuine interest, CamelHump: suppose a child is injured in an accident which is quite clearly the fault of the school, and the injuries are life changing - e.g. something that will leave the child in pain and disabled for the rest of her life. Would you still be unable to stand the thought of the school being sued?

[Coffee1234]

A friend of mine is an orthopaedic surgeon and it still took him several days to realise that his own daughter's sore (and subsequently found to be fractured) wrist should maybe have an X-ray.

[grapejuicerocks]

It was an accident - an accident. They happen.

Yes they should have told you, but children fall over all the time. Perhaps it wasnt obvious he hurt himself at the time. They have enough paperwork to do without recording every single fall.

Tell them what's happened Ask what what happened at their end.
A discussion rather than apportioning blame. The staff may see a need for adapting their procedures from the discussion, or maybe it was just one of those things.

Move on

[LovelyFriend]

I'm pretty sure in the similar case at DD's nursery the parent didn't have to "sue" as such.

She was give compensation by the borough obo the nursery.

[SophieJenkins]

So, yes YABU for suggesting suing the nursery. And money grabbing. Very typical of today's increasingly litigious society though. Are you American?

Oh FFS

Just see what you want to see.

[Goldmandra]

You say in your op it was logged as a minor injury. So they did notify you.

You also say no one saw him fall. Who told you that? 3 year old or staff?

That was just the OP predicting the possible explanations.

If it does turn out to have been logged as a minor injury, they should have informed you, OP, but they don't need retraining in first aid any more than you need retraining in your own skills considering you didn't take him to A&E until the next day.

[hanami]

I was there when my friend's son broke his arm. I saw the fall (from a soft ball, on to a soft floor). I thought she was utterly ridiculous going to A&E. She was the mum, she was right. I work in a school. I was wrong.

I reckon I could see almost the same fall 1000 times and it wouldn't end up in a break, a bruise or a murmur.

By all means talk to them, but please go with an open mind.

[coffeeisnectar]

You say in your op it was logged as a minor injury. So they did notify you.

You also say no one saw him fall. Who told you that? 3 year old or staff?

I'm sorry but you want to sue and report them to everyone under the sun...it was an accident. They are trained in first aid but cannot detect broken limbs. You didn't take him to hospital until the next day and as his parent, you know him best...yet you didn't notice his broken arm.

You need to calm down, speak to the manager and find out what happened. Kids fall. All the time. There are three kids with broken legs and two with broken arms at my youngest child's school at the moment, playground looks like a and e ....If this is the worst injury he gets count your blessings.

[AmIthatsummery]

Aye. Only if it's an employee, and there are specific injuries that need reported. Members of the public have different criteria and the type of injury is irrelevant t

[xiaozhu]

A greenstick is no big deal. Kids fall over and hurt themselves all the time. You can't wrap them in cotton wool and the nursery staff can't watch them all the time.

So, yes YABU for suggesting suing the nursery. And money grabbing. Very typical of today's increasingly litigious society though. Are you American?

[Wheredidiputthekeys]

My daughter broke both her arms at school. She was hanging upside down on monkey bars when the breaktime bell rang. She startled, failed to break her fall, greenstick breaks both arms.

School called. She was pasty and quiet, no one saw her fall, but she was being supervised.

Took her straight to A&E, when asked which arm hurt she pointed to one arm, not both. Was xrayed, had break, was plastered. At follow up, one week later, I mentioned she couldn't move other arm. Despite SHO saying on exam she was fine, xray proved other greenstick. One week, undetected.

Did I blame school? No. Did I blame A&E? No. I blamed myself. I know my child best. I failed to identify the problem.

I think you need to think again before you start threatening to sue. You did not go straight to A&E. You didn't see the problem either.

[breadstixandhommus]

Where's the OP?

OP did you speak to the nursery?

[WinterOfOurDiscountTents15]

They didn't know there were broken bones!
And neither did the OP, who left him with a broken bone for much longer than the nursery did. She's trying to shift her own feelings of guilt onto someone else and make it all their fault.