When my two sons were in high school not so long ago, they sometimes played floor hockey in the gymnasium as part of phys-ed class. Most kids used sticks with plastic blades provided by the school. Others brought their ice-hockey sticks from home.
As sometimes happens, accidents occurred. Students would get their sticks up and someone would get clipped. Occasionally, a kid would need stitches. And that was that.
But a judgment in the Supreme Court of B.C. this week could profoundly change the sports landscape at our schools.
Devon Hussack was awarded nearly $1.4-million by Madam Justice Mary Ellen Boyd because of injuries suffered when he was accidentally hit by a stick during a field-hockey game in gym class.
Of course, there is more to the story. And a read of the 52-page judgment makes you realize just how radically our social environment is changing.
The incident occurred in April, 1998, when Devon, then 14, was in Grade 7 at a Chilliwack, B.C., middle school in Chilliwack, B.C. Throughout his elementary-school years, the document suggests, he had been a student coddled by an obsessive father who felt his son was a miracle child, born to parents who spent years trying to reproduce.
Ernie Hussack quit his job to become a full-time, stay-at-home dad. He often stayed at school to observe his son in class until teachers asked him to go away.
He once hid among some bushes snapping pictures of his son at a school-related party until a parent complained. If the boy didn't feel like going to school, he didn't have to. Although he was allowed to graduate from grade to grade, his absenteeism rate was atrocious.
A child psychologist who was brought in to examine Devon's lack of interest in school commented on the unhealthy relationship between father and son and the negative consequences it would have on the child's development if it continued.
When Devon was in Grade 7, father and son were asked to attend a meeting with school officials to discuss his absenteeism rate. They talked about the chronic illness that left him tired and unmotivated to attend classes.
Devon missed most PE classes in Grade 7, and failed the subject the first two semesters. Since it was a mandatory course, he had to pass it to be promoted to Grade 8. The PE teacher attended the meeting with the Hussacks. He told Devon the class was finishing a three-week field-hockey unit and thought he might be interested in it because he knew the boy had played ice hockey and floor hockey in the past. It would be a good opportunity for him to participate and possibly pass PE, the teacher said.
The Hussacks apparently concurred.
Devon showed up for the next PE class, which was the last unit on field hockey and included a game. At some point, Devon was chasing down a girl who had the ball. As he got closer, she raised her stick to take a shot. The stick hit Devon on the nose. He suffered a cut and some bruising.
Over the next couple of years, Devon withdrew from school even more. Attempts to home-school him failed. His father took him to doctor after doctor, and each time he provided a growing list of symptoms from which his son was suffering: drowsiness, sensitivity to light, headaches, loss of concentration, aching joints. Doctor after doctor said the boy had suffered a mild concussion superimposed on a family history of migraines.
Of course, the family sued the school. In court, Justice Boyd was convinced that all Devon's ailments were real. While the judge conceded that the boy's problems might have been caused, in part, by a pre-existing psychological disorder stemming from the odd relationship he had with his father, she said they were inflamed or ignited by the field-hockey accident.
She said Devon should never have been allowed to play because he'd missed the previous weeks of instruction. If he'd had the instruction, she argued, the accident might not have occurred.
There's lots in this judgment that makes your head spin, like how the father has refused to follow the medical advice of professionals to help his son. How, for the past 10 years, Devon has sat at home playing video games and not doing much of anything. Or how his father serves him his meals and asked to be compensated in the judgment for doing that. (The judge, mercifully, said no.)
The bottom line is that these sorts of accidents happen at schools all the time. Are we not going to allow kids to play floor hockey until they've finished a month-long course on the game? What if you happen to miss a couple of classes of instruction on a particular sport? Will that preclude you from taking part in games? Are we going to have to start getting parents to sign waiver forms before their children are allowed to engage in physical activities of any sort at school?
Is a student's pre-existing medical condition suddenly a school's responsibility?
School districts across the country need to take a long look at the implications of this decision. The Chilliwack School District should strongly consider an appeal.
