call from coach ??

Just for the sake of clarity, do you mean soph in high school or college?  Either way, sorry to hear of his injury, hope it's not serious.

sorry-- college d2 pitcher

Colleges deal with students like they are adults as long as they are eighteen. I've never had to deal with injuries. But colleges inability to deal with me bothers me since I pay the bills. One time my daughter got a tuition refund when her scholarship was increased. I called the financial office to tell them where to send the check. They refused. They sent the check to my daughter because she was eighteen. My daughter had to cash the check, turn it into a cashier's check and mail it to me.

My son had what turned out to be a minor shoulder issue last year at his D2. I never got a call from anyone other than my son. They set him up with the right medical people, but there was no contact. When talking to my son, he could not really explain exactly what was going on (big surprise), so I found the trainers email address on the website and asked him. He answered me, but didn't volunteer much more than exactly what I asked him. I think the others that have posted are right. They are adults  and treated as such by the school staff. There may even be medical confidentiality issues involved. Communicate thru your son and if you want to talk to the trainer or doctor, you may need to do that on your own, maybe even needing to get your son to sign a release to allow them to talk to you. I, personally wouldn't contact the coaches. Medical staff is probably ok. JMHO and experience. 

Good luck to your son. I hope it's nothing serious. 

A college student is an adult, I believe HIPPA laws would prevent the college from communicating with you without permission from the player regarding an injury.

At son's school, the trainer wanted open communication with parents about injuries, so he routinely included the health care release form in each new player's arrival paperwork.  

Why would the coach be expected to call you unless it was a life threatening injury?

thanks for replies. new to this - understand now. 1 st doc appointment tomorrow- will let all know how it goes.

I believe you are correct.

My kid broke his hand on a comebacker when he was a soph, Coach talked to him, set up x-rays and such, Son called me , then Coach called to say he would take care of everything if that was OK with me and Mom. All good now.

When I was in college I think my coach talked to my parents once a year. That was a quick hello at our end of the year banquet. The few times I was injured any contact home was for me to initiate. If someone had a question they were to contact the trainer as the coaches don't deal with injuries. I ran track and both times I qualified for the national championships I injured myself just before the trip and could not compete. It was up to me to inform my parents I was not traveling to the meet. As you are an adult in college thats the way it should be. 

This.

Granted I have not had a son play at the college level…I have spent my entire life managing and owning companies - running a ball team at any level is not much different.

My opinion here would bed coaches could have as much or as little contact with the parents as they like. Having a HIPPA released signed as part of typical preseason paperwork would take seconds and very few if any player or parent would even realize it was there. The truth is some coaches are going to thrive on relationships, others are going to run away. Some guys will have the positional coaches be the bad guy and other have them be the good guys. I would have to believe for the most part coaches would not want to talk to parents at all if possible. That being said having the training staff talk to parents direct regarding an injury doesn’t sound like a huge stretch to me either…balance goes a long way in life.

Sounds like something that should be asked when being recruited.  How do they handle injuries and how do they communicate the injuries?  Help solve a lot of these issues with prior knowledge.  Hope for no injuries but be prepared just in case they do happen.

Exactly right. In fact, I deal with a lot of guardianships involving disabled kids. When they turn 18, mom and dad can't even discuss anyhting with the doctor outside of written permission or guardianship letters being issued (mainly I'm talking about mentally disabled). I'll also say that doctors very often read way too many restrictions into HIPPA that aren't really there.

Why is the focus on HIPPA?  The original post asked whether the coach, not a doctor, should have called.  If the injury was serious a general call is reasonable.  Certainly not if it is minor. 

Th OP didn't mention a doctor calling. He just wondered if the coach should or would be calling. Here's why it is a problem. Schools can be a "covered entity" under HIPAA, however that only applies to covered information like health records. For example, a school couldn't divulge what shots a student had or any info on sicknesses in their record. Information like the OP talks about IS NOT covered under HIPAA.  However, HIPAA is a very badly misunderstood point of law, even with arttorneys. Schools, as well as health care providers, etc. are WAY too cautious with information because the penalties are heavy and they rarely (nor their lawyers) properly understand who and what is covered by HIPAA. To be clear, though, a coach calling up and discussing an injury with an adult player's parents (or even a reporter) would not be a violation, but I doubt he knows that.

My son is a high school senior, just turned 18.  He had some medical stuff going on the day after his birthday and the insurance company would no longer speak to my husband and I directly ... we had to get my son on the phone to give them approval to speak to us.  And it only covered that one conversation, you can't put a long standing directive on ...

If your son is on your insurance that you are paying and still a dependent, you have every right to speak to them regarding his care.

Ask for a supervisor.  If they still do not allow it, have your son sign a release.

Make sure that when your kids go off to school you communicate to the athletic trainer or the training department that you would like a release signed your son to discuss any issue (make it major) with the team doctor if necessary.

If your son is seriously hurt, the right thing for the coaching staff would be to contact you. 

Unfortunately, no. Discussing an injury isn't the same thing, though, as discussing actual medical info that's in his file. However, most coaches now won't do it because they've been scared away from it by the school attorneys. Not to mention that some will use it as an excuse to hide behind. There is no all-encompassing form to give unrestricted consent. It's a case-by-case basis. Just because you pay the insurance gives you no rights, either. The same applies to a spouse. Now, having said that, info that's part of the school's files are different if they are education files. There still is a privacy statute, but it isn't HIPAA.

was told by staff son would be shut down- 3 days later and 1 inning on mound- hurt-- just found out its SLAP TEAR!! nuff said thanks for all input .

I didn't say discuss with doctor, I said discuss with insurance company.

I also didn't say that the coach should call up and describe what is wrong and give a diagnosis, but rather if the player is seriously hurt, a call should be in order if just to say we will make sure he is taken care of.

JMO

Very sorry to hear that 3boyz.  Have you had a 2nd opinion yet?  Hopefully this will be something that can be handled with some rest and PT and not surgery.  Let us know what winds up happening.  It's always tough to deal with an injury.

To be clear what I was saying - the doctor, the insurance company, the school - no "covered entity" can speak with anyone but the patient if it is an adult. the fact you pay the insurance doesn't matter. A coach, school, etc., can certainly discuss the actual injury with you, but the could not reveal stuff from the record that they learned from the record. For example, if your 18yo told the coach anything about the injury and what the doctor says, there is no obligation under HIPAA for him to keep it private. There may be other education privacy laws that apply, but usually not. What has happened, though, is that so few administrators, coaches, health companies, and attorneys understand what is and isn't covered that they go way overboard to make sure they comply. In the OP's case, the coach can talk to the dad about the injury and what it means to his season. I was simply addressing your assertion that you would have a right to make the insurance company talk to you because you pay the bill. You have no such right. Just because your kid is your dependent at 18, that doesn't make him a minor.

I wish him good luck bouncing back.