Does this even make sense? Did this mother overreact?

I agree with you on this. Unless you’re bleeding or about to die, ER is unnecessary.

Uh huh. And with Chris, as he got older, I learned to patch him up myself. I kept steri strips and iodine in a box that was labeled, “Clean rags for bleeding wounds.”
The last time he had to get stitches he was about 12. He’d gone sledding with a friend. Friend’s dad brought him home all bloodied from a gaping wound on his head from where a snow board attacked him.
My immediate reaction was “What did he do_this_ time?!”
Then I got towels to put on the couch so he wouldn’t get blood on my couch, and got a warm, wet wash cloth to clean the area around the wound so I could asses it. I could see the skull and there was SO much blood.
The friend’s father was ashen, and he kept saying “Are you OK? Are you sure you’re OK?” to me! I glanced up and said, “Oh, sure. Wait. Hang on.” He had brought Chris over, holding a wash cloth to his head to compress the wound.
I rinsed the cloth out thoroughly, put it in a zip lock bag, and handed it it to him. He looked at me like I was nutz!
Anyway, I took Chris in. There was SO much blood that the nurse who was called in to assist the doc, freaked out. Doc kicked her out and gave me crash course in handing him the necessary equipment and I watched him sew Chris up. Never batted an eye.

I don’t think the mother overreacted. I can sympathize with her.

This brings back a very old memory. It happened in 1973, my son was 10 years old. A friend of his gave him a ride on a motor scooter. When he came into our driveway, the scooter tipped over and cut the friends ankle really bad. I took him to the ER, and they stitched it up.

His parents then sued us for violating their religion. The judge threw out the case, thank goodness. I couldn’t believe parents could be so angry about medical services for such a bad cut.

Totally an overreaction.
When I nearly collapsed my trachaea by falling on a clothesline throat first, my parents did not bother with calling a doctor at all. They just dumped me on a couch.

Absolutely an over reaction! My son used to be in the habit of running around without socks, and we lived out in the woods. Inevitably, he would end up with rocks and little sticks in his shoes that would tear up his toes as he ran. He would never tell me his toes were infected until they were completely infected and swollen. Rather than taking him to the doctor every single week, I taught myself how to lance his toes myself.

Before anyone freaks out, it was a simple but time-consuming process, free, and it worked very very well. And it was relatively painless for him.

That mother sounds like a piece of work, a real drama queen.

If it was on one of those TV courtroom shows then chances are the whole thing was made up in the first place.

I think the mother slightly overreacted, but that if re-worded, it makes enough sense so see JJ’s ruling makes sense. That is, once there is something that could make a 12-month-old choke stuck in their mouth, it does makes sense to get it removed as quickly and surely as possible. I think the mother has the right/authority/responsibility to choose how to get that done, including choosing to go to the ER. For example, if the sitter’s attempts to remove the sticker had led to the child needing more serious or choking to death (even if unlikely), I’d think the sitter would be responsible for the outcome, and so too with the much lesser consequence of an ER visit bill (the amount of which is rather high but that’s down to the atrociously overpriced US medical system). I also agree with JJ that the parts about “it ripped the skin off and caused various health problems” claims be denied for lack of evidence.

The whole thing would have been resolved by obtaining the ER doctor’s notes. That’s why shows likw Judge Judy are bullshit. Fake judges don’t have the power of subpoena. But they have the power to excite bored, middle aged women with nothing better to do with their time than sit on a couch, watch TV, eat Doritos, lose muscle mass, get fat and develop symptoms of myalgia for which there are many doctors who would love to prescribe Vicodan as a starter, and get a patient for life.

They did have the ER doctor’s notes. The specifically said “removed sticker from the roof of the child’s mouth.” That’s all. Yet the mother was making it sound like the kid was choking to death.

I love Judge Judy, I don’t like Doritos, and my BMI is perfect, thanks.

If they had the doctor’s notes, and they stated that the sticker went no further than the roof of the mouth, then it is settled. The mother is a liar and a drama queen. Her kid is probably going to grow up just like her. She needs to be put down like a rabid dog.

^ Agreed, but then there would be no more Judge Judy fodder. Gotta keep the lunatics alive so more screwed up kids can be raised and Judge Judy can keep her ratings. LOL I can’t stand her myself.

Hey! I’m a judge-show addict, mainly because it’s stupid shit that the “judge” plays for entertainment then says, “This is stupid shit.”

In this case, the sitter agreed to have ER services called for stupid shit. The sitter had to pay the copay for calling ER services for stupid shit. The show paid the fees, so no loss to the sitter, but of course, anyone watching will say that is crazy!
The unfortunate outcome will be any private sitter (like your teenage neighbor) being discouraged from helping you out because of bullshit legal claims.
I would never babysit for anybody I’m not related to.

Honestly, it’s the fault of whoever put dangerous/potentially dangerous objects around a 12 months old baby. If the stickers were provided by the mother and she had no problem having it in her house around her baby then surely she’s the one who should be held responsible if the baby himself managed to misuse it. This is like blaming your dog trainer/pet sitter for not training your dog properly when the dog suddenly mauls your kids when you’re not at home. I would, however, understand that the mother is angry because she paid the babysitter to keep an eye on her baby but the person didn’t do that (she should’ve snatched the sticker before the baby put it in his mouth).

I secretly anticipated Judge Judy to say her trademark words “You fools! Both of you are fools!” (The mother is a fool because she blames the wrong person, and the babysitter is a fool because she allows the baby to play with a potentially dangerous stickers). If only Judge Lynn Toler will follow Judge Judy’s demeanor.

First, I do not think a sticker is “potentially dangerous.” Unless it has LSD on it, a kid can ingest a sticker with no ill effects. It’s not like a battery. It’s just paper.

Second, this was a daycare, with 7 kids, ages newborn to 7 years. There were 3 providers. They were doing arts and crafts. Stickers were a part of it. Kids put crap in their mouths all the time. You just need to stay vigilant that there is nothing truly dangerous lying about, like large marbles or anything that would actually get caught in the child’s esophagus, and actually cutting off their air supply. My 18 month old pooped red once. I sort of freaked out, but then looked closely. She had swallowed a crayon! Was I a shitty Mom for having crayons, water colors, coloring books around the house? I mean, my goodness. She could have torn off a corner of one of the pages of the coloring book and swallowed it.
JJ made a point, early on, of pinning the Mom down on the point that when the mother’s other daughter was 7, the daughter wound up with stitches in her knee when she wrecked, skating. Shit happens. My son got his first set of stitches at age 2, when he stood on a Big Wheel trike to use as a ladder. It wasn’t his last set, either.

@Blueroses Some people babysit kids for a living, like I did. If I’d only babysat kids I was related to, I would have had 2 children in my daycare, and I could not have supported my family on that.

^ If it is really safe to ingest stickers then nobody would have fussed about a baby eating one nor would Judge Judy accept a case that has no significance. Stickers aren’t meant to be eaten, unless they’re specifically made to be edible. You can’t blame a mother’s instinct to do her best to care for her baby, not every mothers are as complacent as you. I don’t see the point of providing small, easily-swallowable objects (such as stickers and marbles) as toys to very young children that haven’t had the ability to learn what’s right and what’s wrong. Really, if you think of it, this situation could have been double-edged. Imagine if the mother trusted the babysitter and instead of extracting the sticker out of the baby’s mouth she ended up, albeit accidentally, making the baby swallow the sticker that will stuck in his throat and will contribute to respiratory issue. See? It’s better to take precaution than to risk the life of someone dear to you. I understand that human aren’t as fragile as glasses and that a few scratches won’t shatter them but I won’t blame the effort of other people to preserve their beloved ones and themselves.

Yeah. The next time my kid has a hangnail I’m going rush to the emergency room (instead of clipping it off myself)! OMG!