Accident at school

melorablack

When I was in school (1994 - 2007) (primary and secondary) ambulances were only called for broken legs, suspected broken backs and severe head injuries.

Minor head injuries and you got a note to send home to your mum saying you have had a knock and to watch for signs of concussion. Broken arms are a bit less severe (because you can still walk with a broken arm) so your parents were called in that situation.

splishsplash

twentypenceoff wrote: »

Im wondering if she didnt make clear what the problem was, maybe not that they didnt call for medical assistnace, but since she points out that it took her twenty minutes to get there, she was worried that he was without painkillers for that amount of time given the severity of the injury, whereas trained medics could have administered some in that time?And presumably the school would only have been able to administer child aspirin, and that only with the parents consent (im guessing here) which would not have helped?

I sincerely hope no-one would give a 5 year old aspirin.

jpmummy

twentypenceoff wrote: »

Im wondering if she didnt make clear what the problem was, maybe not that they didnt call for medical assistnace, but since she points out that it took her twenty minutes to get there, she was worried that he was without painkillers for that amount of time given the severity of the injury, whereas trained medics could have administered some in that time?And presumably the school would only have been able to administer child aspirin, and that only with the parents consent (im guessing here) which would not have helped?

Thanks for your reply, on arrival at A&E they adminstered drugs straight away to ease his pain, as you can appreciate it wasnt just a break and a plaster, he has had to have surgery and will be requiring more.

twentypenceoff

jpmummy wrote: »

to be fair it didn't stop them offering to drive me and him there when I arrived. So obviously that wouldn't have been deemed a problem.

just guessing here, i know nothing about school policies on severe injuries, but could they have been worried if they drove him themselves and somehow jogged the arm they would be responsible in some way?or if they had taken the initiative to call an ambulance you could have been somehow angry that they did it?although why it wasnt discussed that they should call an ambulance when they called the mother i dont know.

melorablack

jpmummy wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, on arrival at A&E they adminstered drugs straight away to ease his pain, as you can appreciate it wasnt just a break and a plaster, he has had to have surgery and will be requiring more.

Was his arm bleeding and was the bone protruding from his arm? If it was then yes they should have called an ambulance but if not it would have been impossible for a teacher to tell how bad it was.

I hope your little boy feels better soon .

twentypenceoff

splishsplash wrote: »

I sincerely hope no-one would give a 5 year old aspirin.

i have no idea what they give a child but i suspect it isnt very strong, hence the use of the term "child aspirin" to encompass any mild painkiller they might be giving the child.All i was saying was that nothing aimed at a child would be strong enough to deal witha severely broken arm needing surgery.

my god but there are some nasty snipy people about that junp on any perceived mistake.

elmer

When my son fell at school and had a cut cross his eyebrows requiring stitched, the school phoned our local hospital to alert them that we were coming but I had to leave work 10 miles away to collect him from the school and take him to the hospital. It took me about 15 miutes to collect him and 5 minutes to get to the hospital.

The school explained that they didnt have staff to spare or appropriate transport to take him, and that seemed reasonable to me. My son would only want me with him anyway when someone was looking at his wound.
I would say his uniform that day was ruined.

Elmer

jpmummy

peachyprice wrote: »

If you were at home and your son broke his arm, would you have called for an ambulance?

I understand it must have been awful for you especially as it was such a severe fracture, but would you really, honestly, wanted your son but through the experience of being taken to hospital without his mum there?

No, I wouldn't have called an ambulance but I would have had him to A&E sooner with some pain relief. They know where I work and know that I am in the same City as the hospital. It goes without saying that I would want to be there with him.

jpmummy

twentypenceoff wrote: »

i have no idea what they give a child but i suspect it isnt very strong, hence the use of the term "child aspirin" to encompass any mild painkiller they might be giving the child.All i was saying was that nothing aimed at a child would be strong enough to deal witha severely broken arm needing surgery.

my god but there are some nasty snipy people about that junp on any perceived mistake.

Thanks - I know what you mean about being jumped on!

Taye

i think the problem here for the school is 2 fold, while it was deeply distressing for your son (hope he's feeling better) the school do not have the medical knowledge or authority to administer much in the way of painkillers, besides painkillers in my opinion shoud never be administered to an injury untill a trained professional has looked at it because it might interfear with or prevent futher (stronger) medication being provided.

They probabally don't have the staff spare to have one member whisk your son to hospital, and in order to get the staff they would need to call in a sub , finding a sub and getting him/her to the school so the teacher can take your son to hospital would undoubtedly take longer than you getting there anyway.

Even if they did have a staff member spare, most teachers do not have the insurance on thier car's to allow them to transport a child and they would be breaking the law to do so.

Leaving the school's final option being to call an amulance and while it's terrible your child was in pain, it certainly wasn't a life threatening injury and calling an ambulance would have been unjustified.

Im sure the school didn't realise how badly your son was hurt, im sure they didn't expect for him to require an operation or pins and i realise your son was very distressed, but if the school called an amulance every time a child seemed very distressed (lets face it id be distressed if i broke my arm) they would spend thier lifes calling ambulances, especially for children like my 9 year old who you'd think had his leg chopped off every time he scrapped his knee.