School fined as girl loses fingers in art lesson.

[shortylickens]

http://mobile.reuters.com/mobi...s_uUSTRE59B4G520091012

A school in eastern England was ordered to pay 19,000 pounds ($30,140) Monday after a 16-year-old girl lost nearly all her fingers when she put her hands in a bucket of plaster of Paris during an art lesson.

The teen-ager was attempting to make a sculpture of her own hands during a lesson in January 2007 when the accident happened, Boston Magistrates' Court in Lincolnshire heard.
The plaster set around her hands and neither staff nor paramedics could get it off during the lesson at Giles School, in Boston.

The court was told that temperatures up to 60C can be generated in large quantities of plaster and the girl, who was not named in court, suffered terrible burns. After a series of 12 operations, she was left with no fingers on one hand and just two on the other.

The school's governing body admitted breaching health and safety regulations and also failing to report the incident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The court was told the HSE was never informed by the school about what had happened and only found out six weeks after the accident from the girl's plastic surgeon. The school was fined a total of 16,500 pounds and ordered to pay 2,500 pounds in legal costs, the Press Association reported.

The girl's lawyer Stephen Hill said outside court the injuries his client, now 18, had suffered were "truly horrific" and she also had severe scars all over her body where the plastic surgeons had taken skin for grafts. However, Hill said she was now doing "remarkably well."

"She is a very determined, self sufficient character but she is now only left with one forefinger and an index finger," he said.
"Teachers have a responsibility to ensure when children are using chemicals they are used safely."

I know we are supposed to make a statement along with the news article (so as not appear we are trolling) but I honestly cant think of anything to say.

My only question is: Did she just leave her hands in there for a few minutes or something?

It seems to me the stuff should not set up if you are constantly moving in and out of it. The article says she was trying to make a sculpture of her own hands, but thats it. Not enough detail. And I cant find a more thorough article on the web. Details are all the same.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Wow, yeah so they were definitely doing it wrong. Plaster can let off a lot of heat when it dries, exactly like cement. Notice when you get your arm casted, they use cloth between several thin layers? I imagine she must have had her hands in the bucket for quite some time waiting for it tor harden. It would have been getting quite warm, then I guess the hardening must have happened quite quickly and she couldn't remove her hands. This is quite an unusual case and quite sad really - the school should have known better, though I hardly expect many people would have been familiar with this type of reaction.

BTW, the article says "she is now only left with one forefinger and an index finger". Umm, what?

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner
Wow, yeah so they were definitely doing it wrong. Plaster can let off a lot of heat when it dries, exactly like cement. Notice when you get your arm casted, they use cloth between several thin layers? I imagine she must have had her hands in the bucket for quite some time waiting for it tor harden. It would have been getting quite warm, then I guess the hardening must have happened quite quickly and she couldn't remove her hands. This is quite an unusual case and quite sad really - the school should have known better, though I hardly expect many people would have been familiar with this type of reaction.

BTW, the article says "she is now only left with one forefinger and an index finger". Umm, what?

In England an index finger is the middle finger.
Actually, my mom is Canadian and thats how she taught me as well. Made for some confusion in kindergarden I can tell you that!

 

[StageLeft]

Damn, that is just bad luck.

 

[tk149]

Wow, that's horrible. And while I HATE lawsuits and ambulance chasers, it seems that $30K is poor compensation for losing 8 of your fingers. On the other hand, it's not clear if the girl just decided to do this on her own, or if she actually was supervised.

 

[PingSpike]

Man, $30K for losing most of your fingers. Did that even cover the damn medical bills?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Man, $30K for losing most of your fingers. Did that even cover the damn medical bills?

"A school in eastern England..."


She lives in a place where health care is not only for those that can afford it.

 

[DrPizza]

Whoever tried to free her was incompetent.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: tk149
Wow, that's horrible. And while I HATE lawsuits and ambulance chasers, it seems that $30K is poor compensation for losing 8 of your fingers. On the other hand, it's not clear if the girl just decided to do this on her own, or if she actually was supervised.

Pun not intended?

 

[CanOWorms]

The Queen has billions in jewels, property, etc. and all she could give was $30,000 for a peasant.

 

[IronWing]

No more finger painting, she'll flunk the class.

 

[Atreus21]

That poor kid.

My call: Make the school spring for some good prosthetics, and compensation to boot. Prosthetics technology, at least here in the US, has made leaps and bounds.

On the other hand, I might turn this into another UHC thread inadvertantly.

 

[sandmanwake]

Originally posted by: tk149
On the other hand, it's not clear if the girl just decided to do this on her own, or if she actually was supervised.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/t...paris-115875-21742795/

She misunderstood the teacher's instructions. Instead of molding the clay nearby as she was supposed to, she placed her hands in the plaster instead.

 

[OutHouse]

wtf stupid question but didnt anybody try a hammer? holy hell thats a terrible story. i cant imagine the pain she was in.

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Man, $30K for losing most of your fingers. Did that even cover the damn medical bills?

Yeah, poor kid... Funny, I have a box I bought at lowels still in the package "plaster of Paris" was gonna re plaster my walls till I figured it was just better to rip it out and put up sheet rock.

Anyway, only in America do you have to foot the bill for medical.

Tho, maybe Obama can change that!

 

[Colt45]

How was she planning on getting her hands out after it set?

Sounds kinda darwiny to me.

besides.. no hammer? or just smash it against the floor.. or.. something..

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake

Originally posted by: tk149
On the other hand, it's not clear if the girl just decided to do this on her own, or if she actually was supervised.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/t...paris-115875-21742795/

She misunderstood the teacher's instructions. Instead of molding the clay nearby as she was supposed to, she placed her hands in the plaster instead.

From your article:

The horror happened after the youngster ?misunderstood? instructions from her art teacher. She was meant to put her hands in nearby wet clay to make moulds.

I wonder why "misunderstood" is in quotes in the article?

Mr Hill revealed the youngster, who cannot be named, plans to sue education chiefs for £100,000.

Looks like this isn't over yet. I wonder if she was yakking in class, and just ignored the teacher. How many other students in class followed the proper procedure?

The article also mentions that the teacher and students did try to use a hammer.