My Son Broke His Wrist At Daycare

[RookieDad]

My 3 year old son has been at his daycare for a little over a month now. Well, today (11/12/2010) when I went to pick him at daycare he was crying, and when I saw him it appeared he had been crying for a bit, right when he saw me he said his arm hurt, I looked at his arm and noticed that his left wrist was swollen. I asked both his daycare teachers, and they KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT, saying such things as "We weren't informed of anything sorry" The daycare director knew nothing either, all she said was "If something happens let me know". So I got home, heartbroken as a parent can be, I ended up taking him to the emergency room, long story short, his left wrist is broken! I need advice/help anything and everything will HELP! Do they pay the medical bills? Is this neg of a child? Who's responsible??? PLEASE!

[RookieDad]

Side note: He was at the DC from 930AM until 545PM.

[MyAngels]

First of all, I'm sorry that your little boy was hurt so badly, I hope he's feeling better now.

Does your son's room have more than one set of teachers? Maybe someone who was in the room earlier in the day knows exactly what happened. Whether they are liable or not, I'd want to know what happened to my child.

As far as liability and negligence goes, it sounds like you may have a good claim for this, especially if no one really knows what exactly happened to cause this. If you look up the legal definition of negligence it says: Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances. I would ask them to pay any medical bills associated with this injury and go from there.

[nikia]

As far as if they are responsible for medical bills if you signed a waiver then no they are not responsible for the medical treatment.

I would be calling the provider and asking lots of questions about if he had been crying, how long, what did they do about it. Are you at a center or a home daycare?

I would be looking for a new daycare also. Accidents happen but if he had been crying and they didnt check things out then it is a big red flag.

I had a little girl break her toe in my daycare, a chair from my kitchen fell on her toe. Both the parents and I did not think it was broken, just a bruised toenail and hurt a lot. She would stop crying if we put pressure on bruise on her toenail so we thought it was the pressure of that which caused the pain. But when mom took her to the doctor it ended up being broken. It was heartbreaking for me. So accidents do happen, but it sounds like from your post that they did nothing for him and that is unacceptable.

[RookieDad]

First of all, I'm sorry that your little boy was hurt so badly, I hope he's feeling better now.

Does your son's room have more than one set of teachers? Maybe someone who was in the room earlier in the day knows exactly what happened. Whether they are liable or not, I'd want to know what happened to my child.

As far as liability and negligence goes, it sounds like you may have a good claim for this, especially if no one really knows what exactly happened to cause this. If you look up the legal definition of negligence it says: Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances. I would ask them to pay any medical bills associated with this injury and go from there.

When he first arrives in the daytime his actual teacher is there, she leaves around 3ish maybe earlier, so then after she leaves he falls under the care of the two teachers I spoke with when I got there, which again knew nothing. I seriously hope that the morning teacher knew nothing, because if she did and chose not to say anything, that is just cruel.

Yes, I want to know what happen to my child as well, I asked him, he said he fell. But as far as all the adults, the director, the asst director and a teacher, THEY KNOW NOTHING AT ALL, that is insane to me, really insane to me.

Thank you so much for the feedback.

As far as if they are responsible for medical bills if you signed a waiver then no they are not responsible for the medical treatment.

I would be calling the provider and asking lots of questions about if he had been crying, how long, what did they do about it. Are you at a center or a home daycare?

I would be looking for a new daycare also. Accidents happen but if he had been crying and they didnt check things out then it is a big red flag.

I had a little girl break her toe in my daycare, a chair from my kitchen fell on her toe. Both the parents and I did not think it was broken, just a bruised toenail and hurt a lot. She would stop crying if we put pressure on bruise on her toenail so we thought it was the pressure of that which caused the pain. But when mom took her to the doctor it ended up being broken. It was heartbreaking for me. So accidents do happen, but it sounds like from your post that they did nothing for him and that is unacceptable.

Yeah, on Monday I am going in early to speak with the Director and see what she says, because again, she told me "If something happens let me know...", so I am going to let her know that he broke his wrist. I am at a Day Care Center.

Thank you for your feedback!

[Unregistered]

As far as if they are responsible for medical bills if you signed a waiver then no they are not responsible for the medical treatment.

I'm not sure this is true. If your child was not properly supervised (and if no one could tell you what happened, it sounds as though that's the case here), the center very well could be responsible regardless of any waiver you may have signed.

Falls and injuries can happen at day care or at home and parents should understand that but the fact that center personnel couldn't tell you anything and showed such a lack of concern when you asked them what happened is incredible to me.

[Unregistered]

Get your kid out of that daycare!

I'm so sorry to hear this happened to your child. It's terrible that the staff didn't know what happened and it doesn't surprise me that they didn't even notice his swollen wrist. I can't tell you how many times my child has come home with injuries that the teachers were clueless about that he was crying about at pickup and they gave me the same story as you. It's funny how afterward, every time, he told me that he told the teachers and that they wouldn't do anything about it. Needless to say, my child doesn't attend that daycare anymore by our choice.

Here's what I would do:
1. Pull your child out of that daycare immediately for his safety. While mistakes happen, it's the way they reacted to you initially that is a major red flag. The director has policies and procedures to follow as well as insurance. She should have provided you with information before you left that day, not just saying "let me know." Good teachers will show genuine concern and will apologize. Also, children cry when they get hurt. I'd have a hard time believing your kid didn't cry and call lots of attention to himself after it happened like the teachers claimed. This could be lack of supervision or blatant negligence or disregard. Trust me, this type of thing happens more than you can imagine. Be sure that the dr. sends the bill directly to daycare, not to you.
2. Call licensing and report this immediately. They will investigate and this incident will be put on their permanent record as well as having to be posted publicly for families to see.
3. If it's a chain, go above the director's head immediately and ask to talk to their risk management dept - corporate centers usually get right on this stuff.
4. Find out who their insurance agent is and get info on their policy - they all have to have insurance in order to operate. You shouldn't have to pay for a single thing even if you signed some kind of waiver.

Good luck and please keep us posted on how your child is doing! I can't stress enough that you need to pull your child out of there immediately.

[nikia]

I'm not sure this is true. If your child was not properly supervised (and if no one could tell you what happened, it sounds as though that's the case here), the center very well could be responsible regardless of any waiver you may have signed.

Falls and injuries can happen at day care or at home and parents should understand that but the fact that center personnel couldn't tell you anything and showed such a lack of concern when you asked them what happened is incredible to me.

Yes I am sorry I guess I should have put that in there, I was assuming that child fell and it was an accident and that there was proper supervision. At least I am hoping that is the case, that the morning teacher knew about it.

[DreamBig]

I'll start off by saying that I'm sorry your child received such an injury but I'm even more sorry that no one in the center could give you any answers about what happened.

I'm not exactly sure how these types of issues are generally dealt with in the United States (I'm from Ontario, Canada), but I know that here minor incidents need to be addressed and a report written about the incident, the treatment given, etc. and this document needs to be signed by the parents.
For major incidents, including broken bones, the incident needs to also be reported to the ministry of children and youth services or the ministry of health (I don't remember which one - I've never had to report an incident of that nature).

At the very least the child should have been given an ice pack to reduce the swelling and you should have been notified immediately that it happened.

I think you need to speak to the director and your child's teacher and definitely consider pulling your child out of their care. A child's safety should be the number one concern of any day care.

Good Luck, I hope your child gets better soon.

[annie89]

nice post...thanks for sharing with us

[missnikki]

Just a thought- Is it possible that it happened right as you were walking in? I mean to say, if he fell as you were being greeted by the teacher, then you walk over to him and he is crying, swollen, etc...? That is the only thing I can think of that would explain how anyone would NOT notice.

Either way, I hope he gets healed up soon.

[amandadaly123]

I'm sorry

I'm so sorry about your son i know insurence will pay most of it. but if your son is still going to that daycare get him out of there and find a new daycare. i would even try to sue them

[youretooloud]

Falls and injuries can happen at day care or at home and parents should understand that but the fact that center personnel couldn't tell you anything and showed such a lack of concern when you asked them what happened is incredible to me.

I agree. They should have known he was hurt, and they should have known WHY he was crying. I bet he said "My arm hurts" to the teacher, and they didn't pay attention to him.

If he'd fallen, they SHOULD have known the moment he fell. Maybe they didn't actually see it, but we are trained to know everything that goes on at all times. We place ourselves in the room in a way that we can see nearly everything, or at least hear everything. SO, there is no reason that none of them knew he had hurt himself.

There is no excuse for that to happen. It's one thing to get hurt, it's another thing completely that nobody noticed or cared.

[Lilbutterflie]

I know this post is months old; but I have first hand experience with my own DD breaking her wrist at daycare; and wanted to share how the center in this post SHOULD HAVE handled it.

My DD was in a preschool center at the time. She had just turned 4. I received a call at work that she had fallen on the playground and said her arm was hurting. They said it was not swollen, but they sent her to the office for some ice and to rest a little just in case. They said they would call later if she was still complaining.

I received another call 20 minutes later that she was still in the office and complaining that it hurt. She was able to bend it, and it was not swollen. I decided to take the afternoon off to take her to urgent care just to be safe. Even though it was not swollen at all; it was indeed broken.

So, this is a perfect example of how a daycare center should handle injuries like this. Inform the parent, take care of the situation with ice and rest, and then inform the parent again if it continues to be an issue.

[sissy]

Beleive it or not

i had a little girl that had been with me for 5 years. she was twirling one day and fell upon my highchair. I was fixing lunch and when I heard the noise I ran in. I said what in the world? I noticed the high chair was moved a couple of feet away from the wall. When asked what happen she said she fell. I asked was she alright? Her response, yes... This happened around lunch time. afterward came lunch, nap, snack then I helped get her ready for dance class. She never cried or said a word or give any indication that something was wrong. Another parent picked her up and met her mother at dance class. After she got into the car I seen her reach to close the car door. She told the driver of the car her arm was hurting. After they arrived at dance class she took dance then started to cry and mom took her to the Dr. Her collarbone was dislocated! I had no idea until the mother called me. Although I could tell the mother what happened to her but I couldn't explain to her why she went 8 hours before she said anything.