My 2 Yr Olds Broken Arm

Updated on June 28, 2010
A.B. asks from Montgomery Village, MD
14 answers

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??

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H.P.

answers from Norfolk on

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.

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S.K.

answers from Kansas City on

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
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C.A.

answers from Atlanta on

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.

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

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.

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S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

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
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M.K.

answers from Washington DC on

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.

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S.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I think you need to report the series of events to CPS or the appropriate agency. You don't hav eto be sure about anything, jus ttell tehm you are worried. It would put my mind at ease that no other children are at risk.

While it is all fresh in your head, I would document everything tha thappened and how and when you were told about it.

What does your pediatricians say? If he or she is only aware of one of the incidents (maybe you went to the enmergency room once or did self care for another?), then they don't have the whole picture. Seek their advice.

Lastly, you can consult a lawyer for a small fee or even for free. That doesn't mean you have to sue. However, a lawyer may push you to sue. So be prepared to be objectiv eabout their advice. Maybe the results of a CPS inquiry or a discussion iwth a pediatrician will guide your decision.

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S.D.

answers from Washington DC on

I feel extremely bad for you and your daughter. You have to call the office of childcare, if you haven't done so already and file a complaint. The daycare needs to be investigated. It definitely sounds like lack of supervision. Yes, you should also speak to an attorney because this sounds a bit extreme for any 2 year old in a supervised setting. Best luck to you.

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M.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Have you called social services to have this daycare provider invesitagated? I'd start there.

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K.L.

answers from Washington DC on

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!!

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

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.

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L.D.

answers from Las Vegas on

There's clearly a safety issue going on at that daycare. I don't know if you have a viable case but an attorney should be able to tell you for sure. Most personal injury attorneys do not charge for your initial visit so you have nothing to lose by discussing this matter with them.

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K.H.

answers from Richmond on

find the child that pushed her, sue the parents for the medical bills, if the school refuses to give you the information, sue them . once is an accident. three times, is a multi million dollar lawsuit. get cracking. because she will have problems with that arm for the rest of her life. and the other childs parents should be paying for EVERYTHING. if they refuse, put an ad in their local paper, warning other parents away from the child. nice? NO. legal, YES! the public has the right to know this school allowed these parents to allow their child to hurt other kids.also , call social services to investigate the parents. there has to be some reason why this other child is so aggressive. you could always go up to the child and offer to show them how it feels to have these injuries, and if the parents dont like it, too bad, they should have put a muzzle on the child after the first time.i am not saying hurt the child, i am saying, ask them how are they planning on paying for your childs injuries. cash or check ? and then sent all the medical bills to their address. in fact call your insurance company and tel them that the other childs parents have agreed to pay all the bills.when the bills come in, forward them to the other childs parents address.
they will quickly learn how to control their child when they are paying the medical bills.
K. h.

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S.N.

answers from Washington DC on

I would suggest picking your daughter up from daycare and then calling the Fairfax County Child Protective Services (CPS) hotline ###-###-#### TODAY - to file a complaint against the childcare provider. Also, if the provider is licensed by the state of Virginia, you can file a complaint by calling VA Department of Social Services Fairfax Licensing Office at ###-###-####. If she has a permit from Fairfax County, call the Office for Children at ###-###-####. CPS is the most important agency to call.

One injury could be chalked up to an accident, but your daughter has had three injuries. The provider will likely be investigated for failure to provide appropriate supervision to your daughter (and to the other children). I think it goes without saying that you need to remove your daughter from that daycare immediately to ensure her safety. I would wait to decide about suing until after CPS completes their investigation. Hope this helps!

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