NJ Supreme Court Sides With Mullica School District In Eye Test Dispute

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Mullica Township School District does have immunity from prosecution for failing to tell parents of a student that she had failed an eye test done in school in 2001-2002.

The parents were notified after student Rachel Parsons failed another eye test given by school nurse Judith Grasso in 2004 and Parsons was later diagnosed with amblyopia, also known as “lazy eye” in her right eye.

In November 2013, Rachel Parsons, then 17, and her parents, Howard and Michelle Parsons, sued the board of education and the school nurse for failing to notify them in a timely manner of the results of the first screening.

The school board argued that they were protected under state law that gives immunity to public entities and their employees for failing to conduct an adequate medical examination.

The parents had argued that the failure to provide the results of the test was a separate act from the exam itself.

A trial court sided with the family, but an appeals court reversed the decision and the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously upheld that ruling and sided with the district.

In the decision the court said that: “Exposing public school boards to liability for failure to adequately communicate the results of a physical examination would have a chilling effect on public entities that administer public health examinations and it would be illogical to provide immunity for an inadequately performed examination, while imposing liability for the failure to report the results of an examination to a patient.”

The decision says the condition also went undetected by Parsons’ private doctors before and after the first screening. Those doctors are also named in the lawsuit, but are not part of the decision.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/nj-supreme-court-sides-with-mullica-twp-on-student-eye/article_a453cbd2-6495-11e6-a11e-b7d81acafe08.html