hold harmless agreement for summer camp?

[Anonymous]

hi, all.

this is the first year I'm sending DS to a weeklong day camp during the summer. (He'll be 5.) I'm filling out the registration form and see that I have to sign a hold harmless agreement. I imagine this is pretty standard for summer camps, but I'm freaked out a little by it. does it mean that the camp (its officers, departments, etc.) is not responsible if anything bad happens to my child while at the camp? or is it more nuanced than that?

thanks for any insight.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever been to a bounce house, Little Gym, My Gym, or any such place that you pay to have your kid run around? Same thing.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are both lawyers and we signed one too (actually 2 for 2 different summer camps -- this is our first year dealing with camp as well). I was actually not entirely comfortable signing but have no choice if I want my child to go to camp this summer. However, there is definitely a lot of legal ambiguity in the area of the enforceability of these waivers and, to the extent that an injury, etc was caused by the gross negligence of someone at the camp, it likely wouldn't be enforceable anyway.

[Anonymous]

A little story: I remember that the judge I clerked for had surgery in the middle of the clerkship. He liked to tell the story that as he was nodding off under the anesthesia, he gazed up at his surgeon and said "You know, I could break that hold harmless agreement in ten seconds..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A little story: I remember that the judge I clerked for had surgery in the middle of the clerkship. He liked to tell the story that as he was nodding off under the anesthesia, he gazed up at his surgeon and said "You know, I could break that hold harmless agreement in ten seconds..."

Love this!

[Anonymous]

OK wait, doctors can't ethically make a patient sign a liability waiver anymore than a lawyer can. So call me humorless, but. . .