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Post by chadp56 on Aug 18, 2007 8:42:41 GMT -6
Coaches,
I had a new experience yesterday. We have a kid on our team whose family doesn't believe in doctors. This kid had his finger dislocated and his bone protruding through the skin. As luck would have it, no trainer or medical personnel were at the scrimmage. The kid was in pain and saying I can't go to the doctors. His parents had signed the medical consent card but had crossed out parts of it and had put stuff like "pray" and call pastor so and so, and the family doctor is Jesus. I was on the phone with our AD and his mom and dad etc. and it was an experience since we were two hours away from his house and a half hour away from a hospital. The parents took forever to get to the hospital and had told the doctors not to do anything that involved giving him a shot (which they needed to do) so they didn't treat him at all for a couple hours. Anyhow, I guess they did decide to let them numb it and set it thank God. What if this kid had a broken femur? He could have bled to death right there. Our school is contacting their lawyers for what to do in this case. Anyone ever experience something similar? I hope I never do again!
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Post by airman on Aug 18, 2007 13:03:20 GMT -6
IMO better to error on the side of saving a life. I would rather have a lawsuit by the the aclu then a wrongful death lawsuit.
I would have posed the questions you were asking here to the parents.
if they believe in what they say they do then if their son died, they would say it must have been Gods will. If not you know they do not belive inwhat they profess.
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Post by ocinaz on Aug 18, 2007 20:49:21 GMT -6
WOW...Nothing like that, we played a reservation team, and their "medicine man" came out on the field, pulled some liquid out of his pocket and spit it all over the kids face....
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wccoach
Sophomore Member
Posts: 159
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Post by wccoach on Aug 19, 2007 10:40:32 GMT -6
Hello Coach,
Our school has very strict guidelines on emergency medical care for all of our athletes and there is no way this player would be allowed to play for any of our teams. It has been discussed that we would be opening ourselves up for a religious discrimination lawsuit by not letting a kid participate because of his religious beliefs, but the school has determined that a discrimination lawsuit is something they would rather deal with than the death or crippling of an athlete because of refusal of medical care. We have not had this issue arise at out school, but another school in the district has and the kid and his parents decided not to have their child participate in sports. There was some crumbling about a lawsuit, but the pastor of the kids church stepped in and explained to the parents that it was not fair to the school to force their beliefs on the school. We are an inner city school, but, we have some sharp administration people that work very hard to ensure the safety of our athletes. Talk to the school or district and find out what the guidelines are for athletes that refuse emergency medical treatment. You might find out that they have a policy for this situation.
Good Luck
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Post by wildcat on Aug 19, 2007 11:47:46 GMT -6
I think that there is a Christian Science school in Illinois (Principia?) that plays D-III football and doesn't believe in "conventional" medicine.
Any Illinois guys confirm or deny this?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2007 12:20:51 GMT -6
I've heard some stories about principia, but never played against them.
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Post by coachpoe on Aug 19, 2007 12:41:32 GMT -6
yeah they are a D-III college in south eastern Illinois near St. Louis. They also have a high school team in St. Louis. They are Christian Scientists but don't know a lot about their practices or procedures.
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Post by coachbdud on Aug 21, 2007 22:08:11 GMT -6
when i first heard of this i thought i would never ever see anything like it, but then last night at a district meeting a coach at a local HS asked a question about it because he had a kid like that, they had some special waiver signed off on by the kid and the parents
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2007 6:23:14 GMT -6
I guess I'd get a written explanation from the parents of EXACTLY what they want in the medical care of their son. I mean I'd make them put in writing that they want their son to receive medical attention for this, for this, for this, not for this, etc. Then I'd keep a copy with the medical card, in the training room, etc.
But this only protects you and not the kid, though I believe that's the parent's job to turn down. Still, when you go on the road the other town's medical staff may say "BS, no kid is dying on our field."
But if they insist, then all you can do is protect yourself if they change their minds after the fact. But be sure that what is in writing is written BY THEM. Don't let it be your words and their signatures. Must be their letter.
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