14 answers

My 2 Yr Olds Broken Arm

i am very concern and i wanted advice on weather to sue the day care...a month ago my daughter fell of a playhorse at daycare and hit the back of her head and bleed alot they told me a child pushed her off. The secound time they told me she fell of a slide and thats the reason she broke her elbow. There was only one teacher out side with 6 kids and the slide was hugue! she had to have surgery and now has pins in her elbow for 3 wks, and now for the third time they told me a child pushed her and she hit the back of her head and bleed again... im already taking her out of their but should i sue them. im not sure how to go about this. someone please help me??

What can I do next?

Featured Answers

I couldn't tell you if you could sue for that or not, but it may be worth speaking with an attorney. At the least I would report the daycare to the state. Each daycare is mandated by the state and if there are any issues with safety or health they need to be reported. I myself have been slacking, I need to call on the preschool where my daughter was going because she was punched in the eye and choked and the staff never reported it to me.

More Answers

Is it the same child that keeps pushing? If it is, I would consider talking to a lawyer. I say this because there are times when a daycare NEEDS to let go of a child for the sake of the other children. It's hard to let go of revenue for something that seems like a normal childhood problem. All kids push sometimes. But, sometimes a child does something like that again and again. So when does a provider draw the line with the one child? All kids will do the same behavior several times before they finally stop. Accidents happen VERY fast. And yet, I haven't had one single accident like this, this bad, in 24 years.

However, one time a child clobbered another child with a toy and that child ended up needing staples in the top of his head. I felt horrible. These boys are BEST friends! The mother of the hurt child wasn't even angry. She knows me and she has known of the other child for years. So all was good. But imagine how different it might have been if it was a new parent and they didn't know how careful I am?

The entire reason to sue a business is to make an example of them and or to recover money lost. They should be paying your co-payments assuming you have insurance. This really could have happened while in your care. Through the years, my kids have come in Monday morning with lumps, bumps, casts, gashes, stitches, stories of stomachs being pumped and charcoal being administered in the ER. All of these things have happend at home with their parents.

If you don't believe they are being negligent then there should be no lawsuit. If someone is talking on their cell phone and not doing their job, then you have a case. If a child is mean and has done this sort of thing repeatedly and they were not separated from the group or let go, then you have a case. If these are random kids doing it randomly, then you need to find out how they are handling discipline because they obviously do have a problem that needs to be addressed and fast.

There are many ambulance chasing lawyers that will take your case. Just be sure you are doing it for the right reasons.

4 moms found this helpful

When you sue it is to cover for your losses. Do you not have medical insurance? Or were the medical expenses too exuberent? Did you lose time from work? I think you also need to obtain more information from the Daycare center as well such as is it the same child doing this to your daughter? If so what actions have they taken because it doesn't appear that it is working so they need to let the child go if the behavior hasn't changed.
Kids will be kids and sometimes other kids are little more clumbsy than others. Although I know your daughters injuries are due to others inflicting upon her. I think you did the right thing to withdraw her from the school but I also agree that you need to report them because its obvious they have a problem BUT accidents do happen. My daughter broke her arm two years ago 1 day before her B-day party. We were at home waiting for my husband to get home from work and I was upstairs folding laundry when all of a sudden I heard it-you know that scream that sends chills up your back. She was standing on the side of the couch trying to jump up to hit the ceiling fan (why on earth because she would have never done so the ceiling is too high) but her twin sister was also at fault because she was telling her to get down and of course she wasn't listening so the other twin decided to take matters into her own hands and push her off of the couch and she landed just right and broke her elbow. She had to have surgery to place three pins in with a purple cast. This all happened under MY care and I stepped away for two seconds-I had literally gone upstairs to start folding the laundry when it happened. Accidents do happen and sometimes I wish the saying were true about mommy having eyes in the back of her head! Your best bet is to contact a lawyer but you need to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons...people now days are sue happy. If you truly were impacted financially by all this or your daughter was emotionally scarred then yes of course they should have to pay the reprocussions but I can tell you right now with them being a daycare I highly doubt that you will have success in the matter but then again you never know. It's always a hit or miss scenario with this type of stuff and sorry for the punt.

2 moms found this helpful

I'm not sure about the suing, but you should definitely file a complaint with your state liscencing board. A friend of mine's day care provider had her license revoked for something much more minor that what you have described. If you go down this path, at least you will have established that they were negligent, and really, they shouldn't be providing care to other children.

1 mom found this helpful

no, you should not sue. if you are out of pocket for medical expenses, talk to them and they will almost certainly help you with that. and withdrawing your child certainly seems appropriate, obviously it's not the right place for her. but kids DO have accidents and push each other and fall off things, even with vigilant parents and teachers hovering over them (and there's way too much hovering in our world today, imo.)
lawsuits are paid by insurance companies. when they have to pay out, everyone's premiums go up. there is already (as you can tell by your own experience) a dearth of good, healthy, safe, affordable daycare because fewer and fewer competent loving providers can afford or want to go through the hassle of setting up shop when premiums are untenably high and parents sue every time a kid gets hurt.
go in there and raise the roof, make sure they understand how PO-ed you are, get compensated for any medical bills you had to pay out of pocket, and go on about your life.
khairete
S.

1 mom found this helpful

You don't provide enough information for anyone to make a determination of what might be best to do. Firstly, I don't think there is anything unusual about pushing happening with such very young children in large groups. Were you aware of the ratio of children to care provider when you enrolled your child? That's a very important number to know. If you didn't, that is a responsibility you didn't take care of in the beginning. Was the slide already in place when you enrolled your child in this day care, or was it a new and innappropriate piece of equipment installed without your knowledge?
I feel badly that your daughter is suffering injuries, but I think you must look at your responsibility in all of this. When you choose to leave a child in daycare, their chances for all kinds of accidents, illnesses, etc increases monumentally. If your only option is to work and have others care for your child, you have to be extremely careful where you place your child. This may or may not be an appropriate day care, but in the end, you are the parent who chose it. The first time your child was injured was when you needed to address the issue. If there was/is a child targeting your daughter and hurting her, you needed to solve it then. If the slide was dangerous, you needed to address it immediately or not enroll your child in that facility. Do you see what I'm saying? Unlike most of the others, I don't see that you stated enough facts for anyone to have an opinion about the quality of the center, whether or not to sue or to suggest calling CPS. You stated that the medical expenses are coming from the slide injury. It's too bad that it happened, but how could you be aware that it was there, and not take action to protect you child from it and then want someone else to pay your child's medical expenses when she is hurt? A child's first line of protection are the parents. I think you need to think hard about your future decisions for your child's care. We can't protect 100% or make correct decisions 100% of the time and right now you are upset and emotional over your baby's sufferings. Rightly so, but let it be a learning experience to increase your odds of making better decisions in the future.
Take care.

1 mom found this helpful

I couldn't tell you if you could sue for that or not, but it may be worth speaking with an attorney. At the least I would report the daycare to the state. Each daycare is mandated by the state and if there are any issues with safety or health they need to be reported. I myself have been slacking, I need to call on the preschool where my daughter was going because she was punched in the eye and choked and the staff never reported it to me.

I don't really know what I'd do in your situation. But, I want to point out how easy it is for a child to get hurt, even in the best daycare/home or whatever. I was with my 2 year old in our living room one day and she was sitting on a low stool. She fell off of it and broke her arm. I never would have imagined something like that would/could happen! Good luck in whatever you decide to do!!

One teacher to 6 kids is not the problem, in fact that is considered a really good ratio in child care settings. Do you have out of pocket medical expenses? If so you could consider suing assuming you did not sign a liability waver when you enrolled her in the school. You will need to get a lawyer if you choose to proceed.

Required Fields

Our records show that we already have a Mamapedia or Mamasource account created for you under the email address you entered.

Please enter your Mamapedia or Mamasource password to continue signing in.

Required Fields

, you’re almost done...

Since this is the first time you are logging in to Mamapedia with Facebook Connect, please provide the following information so you can participate in the Mamapedia community.

As a member, you’ll receive optional email newsletters and community updates sent to you from Mamapedia, and your email address will never be shared with third parties.

By clicking "Continue to Mamapedia", I agree to the Mamapedia Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.