Administration of Medicines in Schools Indemnity

hi there,

I have a young child in school (5yrs old). She has a nut allergy, and so may experience a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), which can be life threatening. We generally ensure that where-ever she is there is an adrenalin injection available, so that in the event of anaphylatic shock the adrenalin can be administered.
In school, the teacher has been provided with the medicine in the form of an "Anapen" pen injector, along with instructions etc.
We recently received a request from the school Board of Management to sign an indemnity form in which the parents agree to indemnify the Board (its servants etc) from and against all claims. While I can understand the position the school and the school staff, in terms of the risks and responsibilities in the event of a severe allergic reaction, I am unsure whether it is wise for me as a parent to sign the indemnity form. While, in the first case, I would hope that a severe event would never occur, and if it did, the school staff would act in an appropriate manner. However, my reading of the form is that by signing the form I have no scope to pursue the school etc in the event that they negligent etc. Or perhaps, regardless of the indemnity form this avenue is available to me, God forbid I am ever in that situation.

The school has a policy document regarding the administration of medicines, outlining the roles and responsibilities of the parents, the Board of management, and the staff. However, the indemnity form does not explicitly reference this policy (nor does it probably need to).

Any views would be much appreciated,

thanks

Frankly, I think you give the answer yourself: your child has a potentially life-threatening allergy, and you set a priority on having scope to pursue the school if things go wrong if non-professionals try to save her life.

Consider a scenario: child in anaphylactic shock; teacher with injector in hand, reading instructions; school secretary comes in and says "the parents refused to sign an indemnity, so you are on your own on this".

Sign the indemnity. And be ashamed that you asked this question.

thanks for the speedy response, however, I don't think it is appropriate to say that I should be ashamed to ask the question. When a letter comes in the post requesting you to sign a form of indemnity, I think it is only natural to ask "should I sign this". Having no particular experience in legal matters, I asked the question seeking the advice of those that may have more experience. Perhaps I could have worded the question better, I was seeking to find out if this is normal practice. I have no problem signing the form, I was just checking to see if this is normal. I do not wish any teacher to be a position where they need to give the injection, and the we have a very good relationship with the teacher and the school. My concerns were not based on a situation where the staff did what they thought was right in a given situation, it was more in relation to the general scenario where there might be a breakdown in the procedures etc that are outside the control of the parents.

snoop1 said:

... I was seeking to find out if this is normal practice. I have no problem signing the form, I was just checking to see if this is normal.

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Well, let's consider normal practice. It is not normal practice for teachers to give medicines to pupils even by mouth. It is even further from the norm to administer injections.

... My concerns were not based on a situation where the staff did what they thought was right in a given situation, it was more in relation to the general scenario where there might be a breakdown in the procedures etc that are outside the control of the parents.

Click to expand...

What sort of "breakdown in procedures"? What's this about "outside the control of parents"? It's a feature of schools that children are outside the immediate control of parents; the parents are usually elsewhere, frequently not readily contactable.

Look, it comes down to something very simple: you want non-professionals to be ready to step up in an emergency and administer injections. That's a big ask. And then you want to reserve a position so that litigation might be possible if things go wrong.

I imagine myself as a teacher, child in some worrying state in front of me, injection kit in hand. With a possibility of litigation hanging over me, it would be very easy to rationalise laying down the needle and calling an ambulance.

Just sign it. I would imagine it is common practice. Doesn't mean that all legal avenues are closed to you if God forbid something happened. Indemity clauses don't always stand up in court especially in the case where gross negligence can be proven. You can understand the teacher and school wanting it in place though. As Padraigb says, it is not normal practice for teachers to administer medicine so its only natural that they look to protect themselves.

The school's own insurance covers the teachers carrying out their normal duties. It does not insure them for administering medicines. So the teacher is not covered by insurance thus leaving the school with the possibility of a bankrupting claim in a worst case scenario.

Some posters have pointed out that the teacher may be worried about being sued if the injection is not administered correctly. In addition to this, the school may also be worried about being sued by the teacher if some harm came to the teacher and not being covered by their own insurance. Difficult to think of any circumstances where this might happen in this case, but the schools own procedures may,technically require them to be indemnified for all activities they undertake.

In practice, the best way of handling this is to sign the indemnity, but to give very clear instructions/demonstration to the teacher on how to administer the injection correctly. In the event of an emergency, a teacher who is comfortable with the injection procedure, and is not thinking about getting sued, will be more likely to do it promptly and correctly.

Its very commen practice. I have a niece with the same allergy, and her parents had to sign the same form. Its protocol. Would you rather they hesitate to administer the pen, because they are afraid of being sued?

For the sake of anything ever happening, I would sign the form. By all means, speak to the teachers and ensure they know how to administer the pen, as my own family have done, but otherwise, a hesitation could potentially kill your child.

Thanks guys for you input - I'm now happy to sign the form. I do understand completely where the school & teachers are coming from.

snoop, you have every right to ask for a meeting with the teachers and staff in order to enable the correct procedures for the pen.