South Carolina parents send their children off to school expecting that school officials and teachers would take reasonable care to prevent their children from suffering accidental or intentional harm. While many school personnel take their jobs and responsibilities seriously, even the most dedicated teacher or administrator cannot prevent all injuries from occurring to your child. What should you do if your child comes home from school and you notice bruises or abrasions on your child, or if you are called by the school during the day and notified that your child has been injured?
- Ensure your child receives adequate medical attention. Your first concern should be ensuring your child receives immediate medical attention or evaluation for his or her injuries. In the case of an emergency, the school may have already summoned emergency medical assistance: if not, you will need to evaluate the severity of your child’s injuries yourself and determine whether your child is in need of emergency care or whether an appointment should be made with your doctor. If you are ever in doubt about whether your child is in need of emergency care, err on the side of caution and take your child to the emergency room.
- Find out what happened from your child and from the school. After your child has received medical care, you should obtain as many details as possible about the accident from school officials as well as your child. Try to interview your child away from school officials and in a comfortable, relaxed setting. Ask your child how the accident or injury occurred and who may have witnessed the incident. Ask your child where his or her teacher was when the incident occurred and whether any other adults were nearby when the incident occurred. Finally, ask your child if his or her teacher or any other adult told your child what to say or threatened your child in any manner. Then obtain as many details about the incident as possible from school officials. Make note of any differences, however subtle, that may exist between the versions of events given by your child and school officials.
- Seek legal counsel as soon as possible. If it appears that school officials may have intentionally caused injury to your child, or that they may have been reckless or careless in allowing your child to suffer an injury, you should retain a South Carolina personal injury attorney right away. Under normal circumstances, you only have a limited time in which to seek compensation for your child’s injuries, but when a public school official or other governmental employee is alleged to have caused or contributed to your child’s injury, the time in which you must act is even shorter.
David R. Price, Jr. is an experienced Greenville personal injury attorney committed to helping you and your family recover compensation following an injury to your child while at school. Contact his office online or call David R. Price, Jr., P.A. today.