High School PE injury, Requested experts: Orthopedic doctor, Sports doctor, High School Coach. Our 16 year old daughter sustained a major injury in her PE class. After sprinting 3 consecutive 40 meter dashes, her leg gave out and she broke her ankle and tore several ligaments in her right foot and leg. After these injures she continued under severe pain to jog a 1/4 mile, which continued to damage her ligaments and fractured ankle. After she complained to her PE teacher that she was in a lot of pain and could not continue in PE, he instructed her to walk to the office, unassisted, another 1/4 mile away, which caused additional damage to her foot and ankle. My daughter’s pediatrician said it was excessive to have my daughter who, is not in running condition or even standard fit condition, run 3 consecutive 40 meter dashes. Her pediatrician also said that having her run these sprints stressed her ligaments more than they were used to, and thus resulted in the tearing of the ligaments in her foot and leg. Her pediatrician said he thought it would be unusual for a high school PE policy to allow a non track trained high school student to run 3 consecutive 40 meter dashes, which would cause a high risk of injury to the student. If my daughter was on the track team, the sprints would have been low risk. Question: Are the statements from my daughter’s pediatrician correct, and my daughter was put at a high risk of injury by running 3 consecutive 40 meter dashes? Do you agree that her injuries were the result of running the 3 consecutive sprints without the proper track training, or was it just bad luck. Is it an acceptable risk to have a High School student, not trained in track, to run 3 consecutive 40 meter dashes? Are there any California State PE policies that would restrict a High School PE teacher from putting a student at high risk of injury in this manner? Please provide a link to any State PE policies you know of. Would it be against school policy to make a kid walk to the office, unassisted, when she was under severe pain after a major PE injury? I would have assumed it would be school policy to transport any student with a major leg and foot injury by wheelchair. I am not planning to sue the school district, I am just upset that the school district is now reprimanding us for my daughter missing school, because of the injures she sustain because of the high risk activities in the school PE program. We have also spent thousands of dollars to hire a certified teacher to come to our home when my daughter was recuperating from her PE injures, to teach her at home and during spring break to help her catch up with her missed school work. Thank you for your help, Mike
Responses (2)
i think your daughters injury is definitely the schools fault. more specifically her PE teachers fault for being so careless about her injury. and the schools fault for having unfare track policies. your pediatrician is right to. i believe you guys have a good reason for compensation for the money you spent at the doctor and for home schooling.
The situation described raises valid concerns regarding the appropriateness of the physical activities assigned in the PE class and the response to the injury. The pediatrician's assessment suggests that the injury may have been preventable with proper training and consideration of the student's physical condition. Additionally, the handling of the injury by the school appears inadequate, potentially violating school policies on student safety. These issues could justify further investigation or action to prevent similar incidents in the future. if you need any further investigation help call 954-618-1776 attorney to consult a better way.