Monday, September 28, 2009
Hey Teacher- My Arm Is Broken
John Keller is a sharp witted political analyst on WBZ-TV4 that I enjoy following. He has a blog and offers commentary about happenings and people that he finds well, stupid, called the Stooge Of The Week. The reason I mention this is because I was prepared to nominate the nurse at the Wessugusset Primary School in Weymouth. I’m not sure whether Mr. Keller even allows nominations and as it turns out he’s off this week celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary. So I guess I’ll just make her my Stooge Of The Week.
For a little background information, a couple of weeks ago, an 8 year old student named Kyle, fell at the afore-mentioned school. He screamed and cried in pain, and stated that his arm was “broken”. He was sent to the school’s nurse who iced the arm and sent the boy to class. He complained some more, was helped performing tasks without the use of his injured arm, and stayed in school all day. Tough kid; here’s the thing, nobody called Mommy. Ooops! Guess what? Ooops again, because the kid’s arm actually was broken.
Now I don’t like to always harken back to the good ole days when I was in school, so I’ll harken back to the semi-good ole days when my children were in school. When my children were in school, my wife was called for every knick and scratch, and then I was called too, and most of the time it was nothing that a little Mommy TLC couldn't take care of. We got calls for name calling and some other absurdities as well and even though it was kind of a nuisance sometimes, in hindsight, we’re glad we were kept in the loop. What happed? Are we now so afraid of getting sued that we’ve become stupid? Is it not common sense to call an 8 year old’s mother even if it turns out to be nothing?
So Nurse Stooge blew the call. Let’s own up to it and say, “hey, we blew the call”. It’s kind of like baseball, when the umpire gets it wrong, you gotta let him know, even though it’s not going to change what happened. If Superintendent Livingstone had said, “Yes Nurse Stooge will be reprimanded and the principle and the teachers will be made aware that 8 year olds have mothers and fathers and guardians and whatever, and they need to be called” but instead Superintendent Livingstone adds to the ooops factor with her own oopsy-doopsy by saying that “everyone followed appropriate protocols”. Protocols? Umm, would that be the “don’t call Mommy” protocol?
So that brings us to the present situation where Mommy is now really PO’ed and everyone is following the old protocol where you never stand between a mother and her cub. For the first time in hundreds of years a nurse makes a mistake with one child and we need to spend thousands of dollars writing legislation to correct it. We’ll call it, Kyle’s Law. I’m sure Bob Hedlund will keep that in his re-election plans. So everyone’s scared and willing to do anything to soothe Mama Bear and that brings us to what I like to call the “policy dump” game. That is the policy of dumping policy, on top of policy. Rules, rules and more rules will solve the problem of stupidity, right?
Good luck to the school committee trying to figure out how to write the rule, “call Mommy whenever a child breaks his arm.” That’s kind of like McDonalds putting on their coffee cups, hey stupid, the coffee is hot, don’t put it on your lap while you drive, moron.
P.S.- What a clever politician that Pat O’Connor is. You notice how he dumped the whole “we need a policy” on the school committee by saying it will take too long to do it on Beacon Hill.
POSTED BY STAN on September 28, 2009
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Comments
We wouldn't need more rules or policies if people had common sense. Considering the nurse threw common sense out the window. Not her first mistake btw. It only makes sense to get a policy in order so that the people with no common sense have a guide to go by.
Posted by: Maureen DeCelle | September 30, 2009 02:24 PM
My opinion is based on what I read in the news. It sounds as though you are closer to the situation. I guess I don’t understand why a rule is necessary for an obvious blunder on the part of the nurse. Should she be fired? Or maybe she can’t be fired and that is why the policy needs to be written into the rule book. The impression I get from the Superintendent’s comments as well as others involved, including the mother that said she didn’t want to see the nurse fired, is that they’re afraid of stating the obvious, that the nurse mis-diagnosed the boy and therefore didn’t perform the duties she was trained and hired to do. What more, as far as policy goes, is required than that?
Posted by: stan | September 30, 2009 02:57 PM
Just another btw- I see the Weymouth News Letters To The Editor this week contained comments defending those involved, including the nurse. Go here. I'm not sure how you call reporting that a nurse mis-diagnosed a broken arm and then not calling the mother, "bad press".
Posted by: stan | September 30, 2009 03:29 PM
I think a new policy has to go in effect because the existing one does not work. This isn't just a Weymouth problem. There is a problem across the state with parents NOT being notified when their child is injured at school. I spoke with a girl that broke her ankle 15 or so yrs ago at Wessagusset and the nurse sent her back to class NEVER contacting a parent.A girl was seriously injured last yr and was sent back to class. A parent was NEVER notified of the injury. My child this yr. There are other similar cases across the state. The system in place is clearly failing these children. There are great nurses and they do alot for our children but they are human too. They make mistakes. However, a parent has the right to know of that injury and decide how they want to proceed medically. My son's fall was chalked up as as scrapped knees and a bumped elbow. He knew something was wrong but the adults involved failed him. I am not a nurse and I knew within minutes something was very wrong. I wish common sense could be policy. Not everyone has the same values or morals and they need a guideline to go by to ensure the safety of children. Most nurses err on the side of caution regarding a child but not all. I don't think this nurse(Wessagusset)intentionally made my child suffer. I think she didn't evaluate him properly and ASSUMED he was fine. A phone call home wouldn't have hurt. It is a parent's decision. I would have wanted to speak with my child as I always do. I should have been the one to make the decisions of how I wanted to proceed. It should be noted that if something like this happened on my watch and I sent him to school knowing he was injured and didn't have him treated, the school would have to notify Social Services. If a doctor got this wrong, he could be sued. Why is a school nurse held to a higher standard?
Posted by: Christine Scales | October 1, 2009 10:15 AM
Regarding the Letter to the Editor, who said the school was bad? I have stated publicly that I love the school. There are wonderful teachers and staff there. As for "bad press", I personally think the school and Superintendent Livingstone created that themselves when they said "proper protocols" were followed. If "proper protocols" include letting a child with a broken elbow sit in school all day good judgement then pat them on the back and say job well done!
Posted by: Christine Scales | October 1, 2009 10:28 AM