School nurse takes student's crutches.

[CCTAU 3,634]

I don't like the idea of suing over nothing, but this nurse seems to be an idiot.

Mother: School Took Girl's Crutches

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 29, 2008

TAMPA - Patricia Elalem said she couldn't believe her daughter's kneecap dislocated after what at first seemed like a minor injury.

Even more troubling to Elalem is what might have caused the injury to worsen. Elalem says a nurse at Walker Middle School in Odessa took away 13-year-old Amber's crutches last month, forcing the girl to walk in pain.

Patricia Elalem said the nurse told her she had to remove the crutches because of a school policy prohibiting them without a doctor's note and that the intent is to prevent other students from being injured.

"I was floored," Elalem said. "You don't take medically prescribed treatment away from a child."

Elalem has filed a notice of intent to sue the Hillsborough County School District. The notice is required by law for legal action against a government entity and gives the school district 180 days to respond.

Her attorney, Tom Parnell, said he did not know what damages he would seek because Amber is still recovering from surgery to repair her knee. "I'm hoping at her age she's able to recover," he said.

If Amber walking without the crutches has caused long-term damage, Parnell said, he will pursue a claim that the school nurse violated the girl's civil rights.

School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the district's office of professional standards is investigating a complaint Elalem filed about the licensed practical nurse, Denise McKee.

"The school and the parent have two different stories," Cobbe said, noting she could not elaborate because of the pending litigation.

There is no district policy requiring a doctor's note for crutches, but the district's supervisor of school health has issued an e-mail to principals stating students must produce a doctor's note to use crutches or a wheelchair, Cobbe said.

"We ask for a doctor's prescription or a doctor's note, but there's nothing that says take away the crutches," Cobbe said.

Amber is an avid athlete who participates in basketball, track and soccer, Parnell said. She had orthopedic surgery March 13 to repair her knee after walking without the crutches and now carries a doctor's note at all times about using the crutches, he said.

The girl initially hurt her knee while kicking a ball Feb. 3, her mother said. The injury seemed minor until the next day, when Amber complained to McKee about the pain. Elalem said when she picked Amber up from school, she spoke to McKee about taking Amber to Tampa General Hospital, where Elalem works as a registered nurse.

Amber was diagnosed with a strained ligament; the teenager's knee was placed in a brace called an immobilizer, and she received crutches, with instructions not to put weight on the knee, Elalem said.

On Feb. 6, when Amber returned to school, McKee phoned Patricia Elalem asking for a doctor's note for the crutches, Elalem said. Elalem said she didn't know the note was required but phoned the hospital to have a doctor fax a note to the school.

The school fax machine wasn't working, so McKee never received the note, Parnell said.

That morning, McKee took away Amber's crutches, Parnell said.

"She didn't give her access to the elevator. So Amber was forced to walk up and down the stairs until about 1:30 p.m., when she couldn't take the pain anymore," he said.

Elalem said her daughter called her, saying, "I can't walk. Come and get me."

On the way home, Amber said, "You know, the nurse took my crutches this morning and made me walk all day," Elalem recalled.

"I got home, took her immobilizer off, and her kneecap was on the side of her leg," Elalem said.

Amber tried physical therapy for a few days but needed knee surgery, her mother said. She had a reaction to the pain medication and was admitted to the hospital for three days. She now is taking medication and watching her diet because she has developed symptoms of an ulcer, her mother said.

"It's been a nightmare. It hasn't stopped," she said.

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[channonc 466]

You have got to be kidding! I hope this nurse loses her job.

[DKW 86 7,930]

Heres hoping they put the Tampa School Board out of business.

[otterinbham 0]

Let's see.

1. Girl injures knee.

2. Girl is wearing medical device on said knee, designed to keep weight off knee.

Somebody please tell me what possible other side of the story there could be here.

The older I get, the more I really hate educators. Not the teachers, mind you. But the entire educational bureaucracy.

[CCTAU 3,634]

Let's see.

1. Girl injures knee.

2. Girl is wearing medical device on said knee, designed to keep weight off knee.

Somebody please tell me what possible other side of the story there could be here.

The older I get, the more I really hate educators. Not the teachers, mind you. But the entire educational bureaucracy.

With this in mind, what approach do you take with your children when teaching them how to deal with this type of nonsense?

We try to teach our children to respect authority and to not cause a problem. But I also tell my children that if they feel they are being manipulated against our beliefs or morals, stop. Refuse to do anything except go to the office and have them contact me. I assure them that if they feel they are in that situation, I will not be upset with them. I hate it that the educational system in this country has gotten this way. But I'll be damned if some overpowered idiot will treat my child like an insignificant individual. I am not one of those parents who teaches that the teachers are stupid or wrong. And if my child causes a legitimate disruption or problem, then they will not be a happy camper when I finish with them. But schools today seem to throw common sense out the window. A story today about a teacher refusing to let a girl do a report on the Fair Tax using the book written by Linder and Boortz because she refers to Boortz as a non credible source. Does this teacher have the right to do this? I think not. The task was to write a persuasive essay. Does it really matter what research you use as long as you cite it?

ANOTHER WONDERFUL GOVERNMENT SCHOOL TEACHER

It is no secret that I am not a fan of government education. Not to rehash the whole thing here, but the idea that loving parents would turn the most precious things in their lives – their children – over to the government to be educated astounds me. If you can trace the decline in our country to any one thing, I would put government schools right there at the top of the list.

At any rate --- let's just say that I'm not at the top of the Christmas Card list for too many government school teachers, and that would include one Lana Snellgrove at the Peachtree Ridge High School, one of the wonderful Gwinnett County Georgia government schools.

According to an email we received from one of Ms. Snellgrove's students, she assigned her students the task of writing a research/persuasive essay. The topic was meant to be controversial. One student chose to write about the FairTax. She was informed by Ms. Snellgrove that The FairTax Book could not be cited as a source of information on the FairTax because one of the book's co-authors, (that would be me) is not a credible source. This student tried to explain to the government employee that The FairTax Book was one of the most reliable and direct sources of information available to her. The teacher wasn't swayed. She insisted that I am not a credible source and that the student had to find information on the FairTax elsewhere.

This is way past amazing. The FairTax Book, written by yours truly and Congressman John Linder, the author of H.R. 25, The FairTax Act, debuts at Number 1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list .. and this government school teacher says that the book is not a credible source of information about the FairTax? Does this make sense on any level?

The student tells me that she is going to cite my book in her essay anyway ... and let Lana Snellgrove respond as she pleases. We'll be hearing back from the student on this, so let's see if Ms. Snellgrove stops being a government employee and starts being an actual teacher for a few days.

Oh .. an update. I'm now informed that Ms. Snellgrove did provide this student with what she (Ms. Snellgrove) determined to be a reliable and credible source for information about the FairTax. The source is an anti-FairTax article written by one Joel Slemrod and published in the New York Times. No surprise there. Slemrod says in that article that there is not one reputable economist of any political stripe that would support the FairTax. Tell that to the economists who support the FairTax, like Lawrence Koltikoff, the chairman of Boston University's Economics department. This is what Ms. Snellgrove decides is a credible source for information on the FairTax, not a book co-authored by the Congressman who wrote the bill.

What do you think, folks? Is this teacher just taking out her dislike for me on one of her students? I wonder if she would like to invite me to appear before her class and make her case then and there that I am not a credible source of information about the FairTax?

And before we move on to something else, let's recognize how good it is that some high school students out there – probably more than I suspect – are aware of the FairTax and would like to see it in place before they start their working careers.

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[OldNewby 27]

the licensed practical nurse, Denise McKee

Practical in name only.

[WinCrimson 61]

Q: Why would this be suing over nothing?

Is this "nothing" in your eyes or are you just programmed to spew your half-baked ideology every time you hear the world "lawsuit?"

[otterinbham 0]

Well, the problem is really existential in nature. If you look at incidents like this and ask, "What does this dustup have to do with educating a child," then you've really stumbled upon the absurdity of modern education.

However, if you shift the paradigm of schools from educating children and teaching them how to think to that of stamping out docile little factory workers, soldiers, attorneys, and middle-level managers, then the workings of the educational system make total and absolute sense. Of course, they don't use language like that. They prefer the much more benign term "socialization."

After all, if schools were about actually educating children, then why is so much of their energy dedicated to concerns not directly related to their core mission? Why are schools, the body assigned to teach children how to think, the least creative institution in American life?

The entire story of world society over the past 30 years has been the destruction of traditional distribution channels, whether we're talking about retail, information, of any number of other realms. Yet, in an age of ubiquitous knowledge, why do smart and motivated children march in lockstep with stupid and lazy ones? Why do schools continue to function along the lines of an 18th Century textile mill? More to the point, why aren't more 14 year olds entering college?

The answer to that is, of course, that school is about the socialization of the child. So schools prize stupid, narrow, blind obedience to rules such as this over reason.

[CCTAU 3,634]

Q: Why would this be suing over nothing?

Is this "nothing" in your eyes or are you just programmed to spew your half-baked ideology every time you hear the world "lawsuit?"

It's a shame and it's a stupid thing the nurse did. She should be reprimanded or fired. But it should not take a lawsuit to do it. The parents should have immediately gone to the school to sort this out. But why sue? Why does this need to go to the court system? Shouldn't we give the school system a little time to correctly take care of the issue? Public apology. Fire the nurse. Something. Lieyers have everyone trained to sue first, act civil later...or never.

I can tell which side of the "gimme mine" you stand on.

If it is medically determined that greater injury was caused by this, then yes, suing for medical damages would be prudent. But the smartest thing to do would be to teach your children to avoid this situation by refusing to do anything until you arrive. The nurse overstepped her bounds and should be dealt with, but all of this might be able to be worked out without suing. Yet the first thing we do is announce, "I'm suing". A lawsuit should be the last resort, not the first.

[quietfan 233]

...hope the school district has good liability insurance. They're going to need it!