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

Because she says so?

She is thinking of suing before she even knows if they did anything wrong? Thinking of suing because thy have done something wrong and she wants it to change, I can understand.

First reaction to be 'I am going to sue' before even knowing what's happened isn't pursuing a moral cause.

Or a monetary one, necessarily.

It isn't reasonable to expect staff to inform parents of every little tumble or record them in writing.

If the child stops crying quickly and has no obvious injury it's perfectly reasonable to just give them a cuddle and move on.

Your DS informed you about the fall when you arrived home. You therefore had the important information at that point and chose not to act on it until the next morning.

If they had told you themselves, it wouldn't have changed your actions so where's the problem?

My DD1 got a greenstick fracture of her arm stepping across the middle of a tractor tyre on their school field. The teacher didn't tell me because she didn't make a fuss. It didn't cross my mind to sue them.

My DD2 pushed a toddle truck around a hospital waiting room with her fractured arm and I nearly brought her home before being seen. Sometimes it isn't obvious that there's a injury.

There's no need to sue them. They will be required to inform Ofsted anyway because the child required hospital treatment. Just let them know what happened and make sure they're aware that he's clearly one that doesn't make a fuss.

It would worry me that the nursery hadn't noticed your child was injured, and it would worry me that they didn't inform you about it. I would at least ask for a discussion with them about what happened, why they didn't inform you, and what procedures they intend to put in place for the future.

Also, I would probably take him out of nursery altogether. But that's me.

I wonder why the doctor said that injury shows he fell with considerable force probably down steps. When my son was 11 he had a greenstick fracture caused by a football hitting it when he put his arm up to save a goal.(not a team just a kick about in the park).

I thought RIDDOR reports had to be done if there were broken bones?

Indeed aye however, the nursery didn't know that he had an injury, let alone a fracture, so it stands to reason that it wouldn't have been done.

They won't have done a RIDDOR report yet as they don't know his bone is broken!
Any update op?

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.

Where's the OP?

OP did you speak to the nursery?

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?