Nanny injury?

[Anonymous]

My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the medical documentation so you can file a workers comp claim. If she doesn’t provide it you have your answer.

(Also, I once had a nanny miss a week because my 8 week infant reportedly scratched her in the eye. I didn’t doubt the injury but wasn’t sure she really needed a full week off!! But we paid her anyway and had insurance reimburse the urgent care visit.)

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

A bat swung at the head can cause it. That makes sense. The nanny can easily show er documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's strange but considering my husband got a concussion while playing with my son at a playground and my son accidentally running into/tackling his dad, I can definitely see how it's possible she did actually get a concussion from your daughter kicking her. I would choose to believe your nanny and tell her you're so sorry that happened and continue to pay her. I would not demand an explanation unless you need to for insurance purposes. Does it feel scammy to you because you don't trust your nanny or because you can't afford to have her gone right now/need her working and are therefore choosing not to believe her?

Running into someone is far, far more likely to cause a concussion than what the OP described. Further, you don't need a week to recover from a concussion. This really doesn’t make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's strange but considering my husband got a concussion while playing with my son at a playground and my son accidentally running into/tackling his dad, I can definitely see how it's possible she did actually get a concussion from your daughter kicking her. I would choose to believe your nanny and tell her you're so sorry that happened and continue to pay her. I would not demand an explanation unless you need to for insurance purposes. Does it feel scammy to you because you don't trust your nanny or because you can't afford to have her gone right now/need her working and are therefore choosing not to believe her?

Running into someone is far, far more likely to cause a concussion than what the OP described. Further, you don't need a week to recover from a concussion. This really doesn’t make any sense.

It’s a holiday week.. sounds like she just wanted off and didn’t want to miss out on pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

But nanny should have been upfront with OP and just taken a week off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's strange but considering my husband got a concussion while playing with my son at a playground and my son accidentally running into/tackling his dad, I can definitely see how it's possible she did actually get a concussion from your daughter kicking her. I would choose to believe your nanny and tell her you're so sorry that happened and continue to pay her. I would not demand an explanation unless you need to for insurance purposes. Does it feel scammy to you because you don't trust your nanny or because you can't afford to have her gone right now/need her working and are therefore choosing not to believe her?

Running into someone is far, far more likely to cause a concussion than what the OP described. Further, you don't need a week to recover from a concussion. This really doesn’t make any sense.

Appi, Mayo Clinic does not agree with you and, presumably. Mayo knows a lot more than you.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/concussion/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355600#:~:text=Physical%20and%20mental%20rest,to%20recover%20from%20a%20concussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

I know of no medical doctor who would diagnose a patient without first examining them. You should write an article for JAMA and share your knowledge about diagnosing concussions on a patient you have never seen and can only go on what one person has said and this person has reason to distort facts because she could be liable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's strange but considering my husband got a concussion while playing with my son at a playground and my son accidentally running into/tackling his dad, I can definitely see how it's possible she did actually get a concussion from your daughter kicking her. I would choose to believe your nanny and tell her you're so sorry that happened and continue to pay her. I would not demand an explanation unless you need to for insurance purposes. Does it feel scammy to you because you don't trust your nanny or because you can't afford to have her gone right now/need her working and are therefore choosing not to believe her?

Running into someone is far, far more likely to cause a concussion than what the OP described. Further, you don't need a week to recover from a concussion. This really doesn’t make any sense.

Appi, Mayo Clinic does not agree with you and, presumably. Mayo knows a lot more than you.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/concussion/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355600#:~:text=Physical%20and%20mental%20rest,to%20recover%20from%20a%20concussion.

Did you bother to read that? It says to rest a few days, which is, in fact, less than a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

I know of no medical doctor who would diagnose a patient without first examining them. You should write an article for JAMA and share your knowledge about diagnosing concussions on a patient you have never seen and can only go on what one person has said and this person has reason to distort facts because she could be liable

We’re all blindly commenting on the likelihood the story is made up, given none of us saw what happened or examined her. But, under the assumption that the OP’s daughter accurately described what happened, I think any reasonable person with a basic understanding of the mechanism of concussions would agree that one would be unlikely to occur in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

I know of no medical doctor who would diagnose a patient without first examining them. You should write an article for JAMA and share your knowledge about diagnosing concussions on a patient you have never seen and can only go on what one person has said and this person has reason to distort facts because she could be liable

We’re all blindly commenting on the likelihood the story is made up, given none of us saw what happened or examined her. But, under the assumption that the OP’s daughter accurately described what happened, I think any reasonable person with a basic understanding of the mechanism of concussions would agree that one would be unlikely to occur in that situation.

I don’t know that your assumption is true. But it really doesn’t matter if it’s unlikely because the standard is not whether it was unlikely but whether it actually did not cause a concussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I would do is send her flowers to her house and make sure she still gets paid on time. What I would think is that she gets well soon.

Why do you ask? Do you think she’s scamming you? I work with little kids and have accidentally been kicked and punched in the face to the point where I had a bruised and blackeye. I wouldn’t doubt a concussion one single bit if I was kicked.

And I show up to work the next day and try and work through it so I can be seen as a reliable employee. So yes, she very well may have work the following day feeling like absolute crap because she has a boss that might not be understanding.

I finished a school day, then came back to work for a day and a half with a concussion before my principal realized something was very wrong with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got a concussion from a softball bat being dropped (not even swung) on her head. Those things are super light. My kid was out of school for a week and spent most of the time resting/asleep.

You'd be surprised how little force it takes for a concussion.

There’s nearly no give to a bat. So when makes contact with your head, another object with very little give, all the energy from the fall will get transferred in an instant.

The OP described the daughter raising her foot and kicking the nanny. Your knee will partially give when your foot contacts the head. Plus it probably wouldn’t even be moving as fast as a dropped bat.

The nanny might have a good reason for needing a break from work, but I doubt it is a concussion from the 8 year old.

I know of no medical doctor who would diagnose a patient without first examining them. You should write an article for JAMA and share your knowledge about diagnosing concussions on a patient you have never seen and can only go on what one person has said and this person has reason to distort facts because she could be liable

We’re all blindly commenting on the likelihood the story is made up, given none of us saw what happened or examined her. But, under the assumption that the OP’s daughter accurately described what happened, I think any reasonable person with a basic understanding of the mechanism of concussions would agree that one would be unlikely to occur in that situation.

I don’t know that your assumption is true. But it really doesn’t matter if it’s unlikely because the standard is not whether it was unlikely but whether it actually did not cause a concussion.

None of us know if the nanny has a concussion, and if she does, the cause of it. All we can do is discuss the plausibility of the story. The story that she got a concussion from the child accidentally kicking her while getting help with her shoes is not a plausible story. The forces involved wouldn’t be sufficient to cause a concussion unless the kid is an accomplished youth soccer player and got a running start into the kick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a workers’ comp matter. You need to report it to your insurance carrier. Depending on the jurisdiction, it’s pretty easy to make a claim. If you are in DC you can be subject to penalties if you don’t file a first report of injury and notice of controversion timely. Also, under workers’ comp, you are required to provide certain notices to your employee even if you don’t believe it happened. Thing about workers’ comp is that there is a presumption that what an employee says happened actually happened.

Call your carrier and report it now. You’re about to hit your first filing deadline.

Thank you. We called our insurance company and we’re waiting to hear back from them. If she went to the hospital and said she was injured at work then I think the claim comes directly to us? I’m not sure as we’ve never had a situation like this before

What happens next depends on your jurisdiction. Workers’ comp is mostly state law with a few exceptions they make it federal. In the DMV, each state and the district have very different procedures. The important thing is that you have insurance and you reported it. You should hear back shortly but honestly I’d call again in the morning - most carriers I know are closing at noon tomorrow and reopening Monday. If the first report is filed late, your carrier will blame you for not reporting it as soon as you knew and you’ll be stuck with the fine - which can be $1,000.

Your carrier will guide you and help you through any investigation they need you to do.

FWIW, here’s my take. Your daughter doesnt remember whether anything happened. A kick could cause a concussion. Medicals will provide you with objective information on the condition. Unless the medicals show nothing or you find another cause, it likely will be found to be covered under comp. You have insurance so you’re fine.

If this were my case, one thing I would wonder is what she will have to pay the ER. Given that she has no leave and she could be on the hook for a high medical bill if she doesn’t get comp weighs in her favor. You don’t risk this unless there’s something wrong. No one will care about her kid issues and stuff like that rarely sways any judge no matter how compelling you think it is.

The most important thing is getting her back to work as quickly and safely as possible. And be careful about anything that looks retaliatory.

OP - thanks so much, are you an insurance professional or an attorney? What do you think if we just pay her for the week, wish her a good holiday, and say see Monday? I assume that workers comp will cover the ER bill?

Yes to both. Don’t take advice from an internet stranger. Your carrier will walk you through this. It’s new to you, but really a normal part of business. Call again in the morning and then relax.

Thanks so much for this advice. We spoke to our insurance broker on Wednesday and we’re fully covered for whatever might happen next.