Woodruff wrote:rdsrds2120 wrote:I don't think that the reason the school has to monitor whether they take a Tylenol is due to their intellectual capability
Then what do you believe is the reason (other than abject fear of being sued, of course)?
rdsrds2120 wrote:and the rules for those two things are generally run by two different people.
If the school is involved in the transport of the child to a clinic, then the school board is involved. They're the ones also making the Tylenol decision.
I have to step in here, because as insane as this sounds on the surface, there are reasons why it came about.
First, in many states that tylenol bit is not entirely correct. That is, technically NO ONE other than someone authorized to write prescriptions is allowed to give ANY medication, even over the counter. As an EMT, for example, I could not administer aspirin or tylenol (law might have changed in light of recent heart attack findings) . I could, however set it down where the patient might him'herself take it (or grab the bottle of medication for the patient, open the bottle at their direction, get them water... even hand it to a family member to give it, but not put it in their mouth myself). This is why a girl who gave another girl tylenol for her cramps was disciplined by the school. She truly was violating the law. That some schools do let nurses give over-the-counter drugs is either a legal "grey area" or a special exception to the set state law (states vary).
Parents are traditionally allowed to make decisions for their children until they reach majority age. Normally that is 18, but marriage is another reason that a child (especially a girl) is no longer under control of the parents. A third reason is traditionally pregnancy.
That exception might not seem to make sense, except in the context of history. You can say that by "letting" their daughter get pregnant, the parents have given up their right to decide. But it also gets back to that whole concept of marriage and getting pregnant more or less automatically moving one into the world of "adulthood". Legally , there is a three-way legal conflict. First you have the pregnant girl's gaurdian's right to decide for her. This conflicts with the girl's own right to decide the fate of her own child. To muddy it further, you have the rights of the father at times as well. (states vary a bit on that, particularly when the girl is a minor).
Beyond this, many states are changing the legal age for medical decisions. In PA, it is now 14. At that age, a child who is not disabled is able to make their own medical decisions. Parents are not allowed into doctor's offices with their children unless the child specifically requests it (and many doctors still want to meet with the child independently for a bit anyway). My friends found this out when they suspected their son was taking drugs and wanted him tested. They could not authorize the tests or see the results without the son's permission. The problem is that parents are still responsible fully for the support of their kids. And.. that gets into another side topic, so perhaps another thread
