My 16 year old son was struck in face with large dowel. Students playing stick ball outside of classroom unsupervised. Other student swung dowel, like a bat, and my son was walking up behind him and was struck directly over eye area. My son was tranported to hospital by ambulance.
At ER, CT scan done and eye exam done by ER physician. CT scan normal and eye exam normal. He had laceration above eye across eyelid and approx one 1.5 inch laceration below eye on front cheek. This happened on June 16, 2009.
He was not seen by a plastic surgeon or an opthamologist while at the ER. The ER doc couldn't close the lower wound after attempt with surgical glue. Wound kept bleeding through. They butterflyed the wound and sent us home. It was a 9 hour ER visit. Once home, I became concerned that we did not see a plastic surgeon. Upon recommendation of my health plan, we returned same day (in the evening) to the ER. Saw another ER doc and he concurred with the first doctor seen that day. I explained that I wasn't offered the opportunity to see a plastic surgeon on call that day. The doc felt it wouldn't have made a difference.
It is now almost one month later and the healing looks terrible on my son's cheek. This was an injury that could have resulted in loss of vision. I am grateful my son's vision is ok (although he has not seen an opthamologist since injury). It is apparent he is going to have a very visible scar on the front of his face as the result of kids being allowed to be outside the school building during school hours, unsupervised.
I have never dealt with anything like this and have no experience with law. I have health insurance however I am concerned about coverage for scar repair since that is not something my insurance will cover. I also think my health carrier should not pay for something that was the fault of poor judgement by school personnel.
My son attends a public school.
What is the liablitity of the school, teacher, and student who was swinging the dowel (my son described it as a pole like a closet rod, wooden, from the shop classroom)
Thank you for any advise you may provide.
At ER, CT scan done and eye exam done by ER physician. CT scan normal and eye exam normal. He had laceration above eye across eyelid and approx one 1.5 inch laceration below eye on front cheek. This happened on June 16, 2009.
He was not seen by a plastic surgeon or an opthamologist while at the ER. The ER doc couldn't close the lower wound after attempt with surgical glue. Wound kept bleeding through. They butterflyed the wound and sent us home. It was a 9 hour ER visit. Once home, I became concerned that we did not see a plastic surgeon. Upon recommendation of my health plan, we returned same day (in the evening) to the ER. Saw another ER doc and he concurred with the first doctor seen that day. I explained that I wasn't offered the opportunity to see a plastic surgeon on call that day. The doc felt it wouldn't have made a difference.
It is now almost one month later and the healing looks terrible on my son's cheek. This was an injury that could have resulted in loss of vision. I am grateful my son's vision is ok (although he has not seen an opthamologist since injury). It is apparent he is going to have a very visible scar on the front of his face as the result of kids being allowed to be outside the school building during school hours, unsupervised.
I have never dealt with anything like this and have no experience with law. I have health insurance however I am concerned about coverage for scar repair since that is not something my insurance will cover. I also think my health carrier should not pay for something that was the fault of poor judgement by school personnel.
My son attends a public school.
What is the liablitity of the school, teacher, and student who was swinging the dowel (my son described it as a pole like a closet rod, wooden, from the shop classroom)
Thank you for any advise you may provide.
