From personal experience, I'll beckon the coach and make sure I'm nowhere near by the time he gets to his player.

This is all well and good, but once the parent addresses me or so much as looks at me sideways, he'll be finished with that game.

Absolutely NOT! :mad:
Each of these parents have signed medical waivers in order for their children to play on the team. During the contest someone else is to tend to them. So as soon as mommy or daddy steps onto the court a one-way ticket to the parking lot has been earned.

I don't know whether anybody signed any kind of waiver or not, but whether they did or didn't, I don't see how that relates to anything in the rule book.

Here's what the general wording is on the Medical Emergency Authorization/Consent to treat form (thois text is from the sample form off the WIAA Website):

"As Parent or Legal Guardian, I authorize the team physician or, in his absence, a qualified physician to examine the above-named student and in the event of injury to administer emergency care and to arrange for any consultation by a specialist, including a surgeon, he deems necessary to insure proper care of any injury. Every effort will be made to contact parent or guardian to explain the nature of the problem prior to any involved treatment."

I know in WIAA Athletics, any person involved as a participant has to have this form on file with school before being allow to compete. In some school districts, I believe this also involves practices.

Additional on this form, the emergency contact info is required as well as the name of the physician responsible for the primary care of the student-athlete.

I don't see anything here about the parent being restricted from coming on the floor or doing anything else.

How I am reading the way the form is written, basically as long as the student-athlete is on the field/court for competition then all medical decisions are left up to the medical personnel present. Only after the student-athlete is off the field/court, can a parent become involved (basically behind the scenes).

Depending on the severity of the injury, the student-athlete will sit out the rest of that game, & then the next day the parent takes the student-athlete in to see their PCP.

How should a floor official react in a situation like the articles below, if a parent came out onto the floor?

Texas A&M's Derrick Roland injury video hits web as Aggies senior suffers gruesome injury

Texas A&M Aggies' Derrick Roland suffers gruesome broken leg - ESPN

Basically it sounds like from the various responses & the reaction of the parent(s) the response would vary.

I may have signed a waiver allowing other qualified personnel to attend to my child if s/he is injured during a sporting activity, but I will not have signed away my rights as a parent to tend to my child.

If my kid is injured that badly, I won't care to watch the rest of the game anyway.

That said, if the parent comes down and just deals with their child, I'll let GM make the call.

If the parent comes down and uses that opportunity to inform me of all the ways my mother went wrong when I was a child, I will make the call.

I don't read anything that sounds remotely like that. Treatment is authorized. Nothing is said about the treatment provided by said physicians being exclusive, while on the court or anywhere else.

I am not an attorney, but what I read is basically intended to free all persons related to the team from liability if there is a problem with treatment of the injury.

If Mom and Dad come out and scoop up the kid, I see nothing to prohibit them checking him out on the spot, taking him to the emergency room, or anything in between.

Very well put.

Totally agree. However, once I've beckoned the coach, I get as far away as I can get and remain there, hidden in plain sight, until it's time to resume my duties. Or until forced to get involved somehow, in which case I would take care of business.

My only objection here is to the ridiculous notion that by signing a medical waiver I am somehow prohibited from being directly involved in caring for my injured child.

So you consider when a mom steps out to hold her daughter's hand while she is assisted from the court after tearing her ACL to be unsporting conduct?

Doesn't sound very discreet to me.

What if a member of Game Management escorted the parent out onto the court to maintain some order?

Basically this is a catch-22 as that if the parent is only going out to comfort their child isn't viewed as unsporting behavior. However if that parent is going out to complain to the floor officials that their child was fouled & arguing the call it is considered unsporting behavior.

I can see if game management announced overhead that no one go onto the court except for the coach &/or medical personnel, but how often do announcements like that happen?

Again, this comes down to how game management should handle things as well as the floor officials.

If a player tears her ACL, she isn't going to be remaining in the gym anyway.

The general principle is that the playing area, no matter what the sport, is off limits to spectators. Only the game participants, officials, coaches, and medical personnel are to be there. Anyone else who violates this perimeter earns an ejection. That area must be inviolable.

This is the only policy which makes sense in order to ensure the safety of those involved with the contest.

You can be involved as long as you remain outside of the playing area. You can be consulted by those who are present to provide such care.

In the event that the injury is deemed serious, it makes sense to have your participation, but you aren't sticking around for the rest of the contest if you elect to enter the playing area and I am one of the officials.

I can't imagine that you would want to anyway, for if the injury is truly that serious, you would be accompanying your young one to another location for further medical treatment.