Summer camp is an exciting time for children to make new friends and memories. Nationwide Children's writes that approximately 11 million children and adults attend camp at about 12,000 locations every single summer. Many of these overnight camps can be a fun and enjoyable time, but one injury can ruin a child's entire camp experience. Children can be injured at camp variety of different ways. If your child is hurt when at one of these locations, then you may be able to seek compensation from the camp to cover all medical bills.
One of the most common ways that children are injured on camp property is in slip and fall accidents. These are accidents that occur when the child slips on a puddle of water, a slippery surface, or a patch of loose dirt. At camps, the groundskeepers and property managers are responsible for reducing all obvious trip and fall or slip and fall hazards and posting signs to warn children of any potential hazards that cannot be removed. If your child slips, it can result in traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, torn muscles, dislocations and more. You may be able to seek compensation in these cases if you can evidence that the accident was entirely preventable.
Also, many children at camp are afflicted with barefoot injuries. At outdoors camps, counselors and authorities should require that the children wear shoes at all times. When children are allowed to walk around without foot protection, they may impale their feet on sticks, rusty nails, or other dangerous sharp objects on the ground. Also, children have a tendency to stub their toes when wearing open toed shoes or no shoes at all. Some children may even suffer painful toe amputations from this type of incident.
Another danger at camp is that of infectious disease. Authorities at camps should do all that they can to prevent the possibility of a disease spread at camp. Children should receive all necessary vaccinations before they are allowed to live in close quarters with other campers. If your child developed a serious illness at camp that should have been prevented by requiring vaccinations, then you may have the right to seek compensation.
Children at camp can also be victims of sexual abuse. While this is a tragic occurrence, there are times that counselors at camps will sexually abuse the children that they are supposed to be caring for. This can be an emotionally devastating or psychologically damaging experience for a young child. If your child was sexually abused, you certainly need to sue the camp in order to hold the location accountable for this horrific behavior.
Camp also poses the danger of a defective equipment injury. For example, if your child is rock climbing at the camp and the pulley breaks this could be considered a defective equipment lawsuit. Also, if equipment fails while your child is zip lining, playing paintball, horseback riding, or going another camp-related activity then you need to be sure to discuss your case with a local personal injury attorney. If your child is injured on a runaway horse, harmed during paintball because of a lack of equipment, injured during an archery activity, or hurt in a falling accident on a high ropes course, these are all reasons that a lawsuit may be appropriate.
Parents can also seek compensation for counselor negligence. During the time that your child is away at camp, authorities at the camp are responsible to monitor your child and make sure that he or she is all right. If your child gets into a fight, suffers heat stroke, wanders away from the campsite, fails to eat or drink adequately, or gets into a dangerous situation, then the counselors may be held responsible. This is because they were supposed to monitor the children closely and should not miss these important details. If you believe that you have a legitimate lawsuit and want to seek compensation against a summer camp then hire a local personal injury attorney to assist you today!