The cost of being a good parent
So about six months ago, my family of four had been living in central NY. My wife got offered a much better job in Virginia, so we picked up stakes and moved south.
My 11yo son (the oldest) had been swimming competitively for the past three years. So in an effort to maintain some familiarity for him, we found a local swim team in the same national league for which he is already a member.
During his third practice, the assistant coach had the swimmers up on the starting platforms trying to teach them proper entry at the beginning of a race. He had threaded a long skinny PVC pipe through a pool noodle and was holding it about two feet away at the platform level to encourage them to get distance. When my son tried it, he was more focused on getting over the pipe than to get beyond it. As such, my 5ft son dove into the 6ft end of the pool with enough momentum to faceplant at the bottom.
My wife, his little brother and I were all there to see this. He came up from the bottom kind of stunned. He had a welt from where the goggles mashed into his face, and he complained his neck and back hurt. After some initial first aid, the decision was made by the gym per policy to call an ambulance. The EMTs determined he needed to be taken to the hospital. After ten hours, four consults, an MRI and a head/spine x-ray, it was determined that there was nothing broken or torn. Basically, he had "whiplash" needing to wear a neck collar for several days and plenty of ibuprofen.
In the days following the accident, I did some thorough research. Come to find out, the teaching method he was using was not authorized by the national league. Diving over a bar required the kids to be going into at least 12 ft of water. In fact, this is why he was never trained to do it with his old team, because they knew the water at the end of the pool with the platforms didn't meet safety standards. I also discovered that every swimmer needed to go through a documented five-step training off the side of the pool before even setting foot on the platform. I even confirmed that this testing need to be done over if joining a new team within the national league. I am certain this was not done.
The problem is, my wife's group insurance is a high premium/high deductible policy since their group is so small. We have received the bills for the ambulance and hospital stay, and our responsibility is in the neighborhood of $2,500. I have contacted my son's old coach, and he told me that if his new team is part of the same league, we should be able to just submit to the gym's liability insurance for coverage of the remainder.
I have contacted the executive director of the facility and asked to whom I should submit the medical bills, and a received a very diplomatic and polite "too bad for you" response.
This was not my son goofing around. This was not my son slipping and falling. This was an accident due to the coaching staff ignoring the safety regulations set out by their affiliated league. Poor decisions made by the staff of the gym led to my family shouldering the burden. I understand that I signed a liability waiver, but it is written in such a way that if the coach came in drunk, pushed my son into the water, and texted on his phone while my son drowned, the gym wouldn't be liable. I found a legal website saying waivers like this rarely hold up in court.
Mind you, I was out of work before I left NY and have not been able to find work since arriving here. I developed chronic full-body tendinitis during the move and would have great difficulty even sitting at a desk for half a day. So we're just making ends meet. A $2,500 bill is going to take us about three years to pay off in our current situation.
I have gotten a free consultation from a personal injury lawyer who was very professional and sympathetic. However, he says that since my boy made a full recovery and the amount is "so small," there is very little chance of my winning if I litigate. He even sent me a precedent set in the State of Virginia about a younger teen who drowned at a Boy Scout camp while an older teen was in charge, and the court ruled in the camp's favor.
So here we are with this significant bill that will pretty much eat up the monthly money we have earmarked for him to be part of this league, and we have a really bad taste in our mouth as far as the coach and the administration. There are only a couple more teams in the area, but we had already passed them up when we were first researching a new team for him.
My wife wants to quit pursuing this. I want to contact the national league, report what has happened, and inquire as to whether the incident was reported to them as required by charter. The fact that they weren't following proper training methods - along with some other cagey responses from staff and administration - leads me to think that they aren't 100% kosher with other expectations set by the national league. I may not be able to get the gym to help us with the bill, but I might be able hold them otherwise responsible. I'm getting the feeling that the gym is trying to hide its indiscretions from the league for fear of losing their charter.
In short, other people made ignorant mistakes for which my family needs to take fiscal responsibility, and I'm right fruit saladed off about it.