Barrios Lisa C, Jones Sherry Everett, Gallagher Susan S
Research Application Branch, CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, MS K-12, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
J Sch Health. 2007 May;77(5):273-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00203.x.
Approximately 10-25% of child and adolescent injuries occur at school. Little is known about school-related injuries to teachers and other adults or about the direct cost of injuries to schools. This study examined the characteristics of cases involving injuries resulting in lawsuits against schools, compared cases in which schools paid awards with those in which schools did not pay awards, and compared student and nonstudent injuries resulting in lawsuits against schools.
Descriptions of cases of school liability for personal injury that were tried or settled between July 1996 and May 2002 were purchased from Jury Verdict Research, which maintains a national database of verdicts and settlements. The 455 cases reviewed were coded according to the characteristics of the case, school, award, and injured party.
In two thirds of the cases, schools or school districts paid an award to plaintiffs (mean =$562,915, median =$50,000). In most cases, the injured party was male (57.1%) and younger than 18 years of age (79.9%). Fractures (38.9%) were the most common type of injury. Falls (21.9%) were the most common cause of injury. Among cases of intentional injury, 93.2% involved an injury to a student; among cases of unintentional injury, 74.6% involved injury to a student.
Preventing school-related injuries is an ethical and legal obligation for schools and school districts. Prevention is also critical because a wide range of injuries are litigated, and such lawsuits often require schools and school districts to pay costly awards to injured parties.
约10%-25%的儿童和青少年伤害发生在学校。对于与学校相关的教师及其他成年人受伤情况，以及学校伤害的直接成本，人们了解甚少。本研究调查了导致起诉学校的伤害案件的特征，比较了学校支付赔偿的案件和未支付赔偿的案件，并比较了导致起诉学校的学生和非学生伤害情况。
从陪审团裁决研究公司购买了1996年7月至2002年5月期间审理或和解的学校人身伤害责任案件描述，该公司维护着一个全国性的裁决和和解数据库。根据案件、学校、赔偿和受害方的特征，对审查的455起案件进行编码。
在三分之二的案件中，学校或学区向原告支付了赔偿（平均=562,915美元，中位数=50,000美元）。在大多数案件中，受害方为男性（57.1%）且年龄小于18岁（79.9%）。骨折（38.9%）是最常见的伤害类型。跌倒（21.9%）是最常见的伤害原因；在故意伤害案件中，93.2%涉及学生受伤；在意外伤害案件中，74.6%涉及学生受伤。
预防与学校相关的伤害是学校和学区的道德和法律义务。预防也至关重要，因为大量伤害引发诉讼，此类诉讼通常要求学校和学区向受害方支付高额赔偿。
