A serious seizure is pretty obvious, and were I that parent, I would personally speak to each and every one of my child’s teachers to let them know exactly my child’s condition and what to do if there is a seizure. I can’t picture any teachers randomly taking off some child’s pants and sticking a syringe up his/her backside if said child isn’t convulsing uncontrollably. Not wanting to administer the medicine is one thing, but not being allowed? Ridiculous. Perhaps we need random people like me to hang out in schools to be able to care for children whose teachers aren’t allowed to.

Libertarians: good ideas, but only ever in retrospect. Maybe I should start listening to the objectivists instead. I do hate them, but at least they do try to figure things out consistently and in advance.

1. Diastat is a gel form of Valium which is a Schedule IV controlled substance. I doubt that teachers would like to be held responsible for a controlled substance.

2. Diastat could cause difficulty breathing or could stop breathing all together in large enough doses. It may be difficult to tell in an emergency when a child had their last dose.

3. Caregivers have to be trained to know when Diastat should be used and should not be used. From the manufacturer’s website: Diazepam rectal gel should only be administered by caregivers who in the opinion of the prescribing physician 1) are able to distinguish the distinct cluster of seizures (and/or the events presumed to herald their onset) from the patient’s ordinary seizure activity, 2) have been instructed and judged to be competent to administer the treatment rectally, 3) understand explicitly which seizure manifestations may or may not be treated with diazepam rectal gel, and 4) are able to monitor the clinical response and recognize when that response is such that immediate professional medical evaluation is required.

4. I personally would not want to risk my license by delegating the administration of this medication to an untrained layperson. Nurses go to school for years to become experts in their profession and a lot of this cannot be taught in quick class for someone without medical experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial

But that’s life in California. Maybe if there weren’t so many idiotic legal landmines in CA things could be different. Now, did I miss that the proposed law being discussed above granted immunity from prosecution/civil liability to the teacher who administered the medicine?

Hey, did you know if my car is stolen and the thief wrecks it and causes injuries that I’d be liable? I wasn’t aware of that until a couple of months ago when my brother-in-law was in a wreck with a stolen bus. While I’m happy that my BIL will be made whole by the bus company’s insurance I just don’t follow the logic of their being responsible for the thief’s actions absent gross negligence on the part of the bus company.

If my neighbor ignores a dead tree in his yard and it falls over and damages my home that’s not his liability. Well I learned that by being the neighbor that ignored the dead tree and having it squash my next door neighbor’s utility shed. I sure felt responsible for that incident. Seriously, the only reason that damage occurred was because I was too much of a cheapskate to have the tree removed.

Maybe if civil liability laws made any freakin’ sense we wouldn’t have people doing insane stuff like refusing to give life saving medicine to a child.

and: “even doctors and nurses can be liable for molestation and assault”: yes, which is exactly why teachers would rather not be forced to be part-time doctors and nurses… :-/

Dont forget that even doctors and nurses can be liable for molestation and assault.

Admit it; you can imagine it easily, and in fact yes, this would deserve attention. So is it so surprising that the unions are opposed? If it were your job were on the line, instead of an opportunity to express indignation toward the government, you’d be more sympathetic.

Hearing a nurse complain about the safety of an approved product without any real argument as to why, and then calling for more staff seems rather disengenious. It’s like hearing people argue that vaccines cause autism so the government owes their family medical care because of it.

If the teachers and nurses unions were really that concerned about students, they’d outline their concerns with suggestions for improvement, not more staff.

The amount of time it takes for someone to get a school nurse to come to a classroom could be the difference between life and death for a child with seizures. These aren’t headache’s or the flu. Quick response is vital and kids should be able to depend on credentialed, supposedly responsible and competent adults to do what is needed to save their lives with easily administered medication.

If a teacher can’t do that, they shouldn’t be a teacher…or allowed to drive a car…or have kids of their own.

I’d love to be there if someone she loved needed CPR or an Epi-pen to survive. “Gosh, Mrs Union Bitch – I really do wish I could help, but golly gee willikers – I’m not a member of the correct union. Besides, you wouldn’t want me to touch her chest area.”

And they wonder why people hate unions with a passion.

I did read Jordan’s post before I answered. My reply to you is this: Have you ever read the packaging on a bottle of aspirin before taking them? How about any prescription medication you have ever taken? When you get prescription medication, the amount of instructions, warnings, and documentation provided is huge. Always. I won’t judge whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Generally, I favor more disclosure than less, but at some point, the useful information gets lost in the flood of liability and regulation inspired stuff. I’ve carried epi-pens in the past as well, and the instructions provided with them are every bit as complicated and scary sounding as with those posted by Jordan for Diastat. The same is true for just about any prescription medication.

I give diastat all the time, and I know many other people who do as well. Believe me, it is not rocket science.

In my years as a RN I’ve given lots of drugs under the supervision of physicians-powerful drugs and I’ve had family members in my face over this and that:
we’ll sue you- You did too much- you didn’t do the right thing- etc etc
the whole “we know better than you” syndrome which is crazy now in america (thank you internet!).
While I think it seems easy to think this is simply a jobs bill (wow-rubbing hands -we could hire a whole nurse for each school in california yipee!).
I think it says more about the defensiveness of schools (vs. parents) than greedy unions. Our society is REALLY litigious!
My wife as a high school teacher has seen this all through her 16 year career. The only thing that makes people crazier than being with their sick family is issues with their kids.
Of course the father says ‘I’d rather them give diastat than not, the side effects for seizure are worse’
sure they are, but what if the Diastat makes the kid stop breathing, and she ends up with an anoxic head injury? Will they be so charitable then? I’m sure they’ll sue! Lay people ARE NOT good in situations of stress like administering drugs (no matter where) in stressful situations. I’ve seen MDs and RNs lose it too. Lay people are worse for the most part.
Lastly, unions do what their members want. If they don’t like a bill, they go to the capital and lobby against it. As a former shop steward as well I can tell you we didn’t cheer with glee for getting the hospital to hire one more person here or there (yipee 300 more dollars of dues-yah!).
This is a more complex issue than some folks want to make it into.
NIce anti union hit piece though.

Why should it take longer for a person to get care inside a school than outside a school? If a person has a medical problem at the mall, any competent bystander can help in moments, but in a school we must waste important minutes finding the nurse? What if the nurse(s) are off at lunch or helping another kid? The faster these meds are given, the more effective they are.

You also said: “Teachers are far more willing to go to bat for students they see every day than administrators in a closed office somewhere, if not intimidated by the latter.”

Whether teachers are better than administrators is not at all relevant to this discussion.

Medication in school should be administered by a school nurse, it’s pretty simple, and it’s been the standard for decades. What’s the big deal? Just take the kid to the nurse, that’s what they’re there for.