School Nurse Takes Away Girl’s Crutches - Causes Serious Knee Injury

13-year-old Amber Elalem is a student at Walker Middle School in Odessa, Florida. Back in February, she injured her knee while kicking a ball, and her mother, Patricia, took her to the hospital.

Amber was diagnosed with a strained ligament, and her knee was placed in an immobilizing brace. Her doctor gave her a set of crutches, and gave her strict instructions not to place any weight on her knee.

When Amber returned to school a couple of days later, school nurse Denise McKee demanded that Amber show a doctor’s note to use the crutches in school. Amber’s mom asked the hospital to fax a note to the school, but the school’s fax machine was malfunctioning that day, and McKee never received it.

With no note to prove that the Amber was using the crutches under doctor’s orders, the nurse confiscated them and made the girl finish the rest of the school day without them.

Because no doctor’s note was provided, no access to the elevator was granted either, so Amber had to climb up and down the stairs with no assistance for the rest of her classes that day. Finally, at 1:30 in the afternoon, the pain was so intense that she called her mother to take her home.

When the pair arrived at home, Amber removed the brace and saw that by walking without crutches and putting strain on her knee, she had moved the kneecap off to one side.

Walking without the crutches turned a strained ligament into an ordeal that required the teenager to have orthopedic surgery, and she may never heal fully from the incident.

Amber’s family has filed a notice of intent to sue the Hillsborough County School District - the district has 180 days to respond.

A district spokesperson said that while there is no official policy requiring a doctor’s note for crutches, the supervisor of school health issued an e-mail to all principals recommending that students produce a doctor’s note to use crutches or a wheelchair.

Here we go again with a boneheaded administrator reading “zero tolerance” into a policy, and causing a young girl a lifetime worth of pain because of it.

Instead of waiting to talk with Amber’s parents, calling the doctor herself, or applying anything closely resembling sound judgment and good common sense, the school nurse only saw no note = no crutches.

Hopefully the family will consider both civil and criminal penalties in suits against the district and the nurse.

Let the school and school district know this is outrageous:

E-Mail the principal at Walker Middle School, Kathleen Hoffman: kathleen.hoffman@sdhc.k12.fl.us
Call the school office: (813) 631-4726
E-Mail the supervisor of school health services, Sandra Gallogly: Sandra.Gallogly@sdhc.k12.fl.us
Call the school health services office: (813) 273-7020