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YOU ASK: Mom stuck with Safekey accident bills

Posted at 6:07 PM, May 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-30 19:46:38-04
Kids get hurt playing, but one valley girl was hurt so badly she landed in the hospital and stuck her mom with tens of thousands in medical bills.
 
That mom thinks the people who should have been watching her child should be on the hook, not her!
 
Dana Gehring is self-employed and a single mom of twins.
 
“(I) was just using that Safekey program for a little bit, just to get through that last part of my busy season in the summer,” said Gehring.
 
Gehring got a call one afternoon saying her daughter was hurt.
 
“They said she'd fallen off the monkey bars and I immediately just took her straight to the emergency room,” said Gehring.
 
Morgan broke her elbow and had to have emergency surgery. Gehring hired Bryan Blackwell of the Richard Harris Law Firm. Blackwell helped find out how this all happened, in a program she trusted will keep her kids safe. They say it happened when the kids went out to the playground, and play on equipment they shouldn’t have.
 
“As we've investigated the case, we've gotten Henderson City, the employees to admit, under oath that it was against the rules for the children to go on the big playground,” said Blackwell.
 
Gehring has about $35,000 in medical bills she thinks the City of Henderson should pay. But she signed a waiver, that Blackwell thinks the city of Henderson is using to protect themselves.
 
“They basically have relied on that waiver, even though their negligence is what caused Morgan to be hurt,” he said.
 
Action News reached out to the city of Henderson. They sent us the following statement: Given that the case is pending before the Nevada Supreme Court, the City of Henderson will not be making any statements on the matter at this time.
 
Morgan and Meagan now only go to babysitters, and Dana has a warning for other parents.
 
“I  think parents need to know to be a lot more careful when you're signing any kind of waiver,” said Gehring.
 
The case was dismissed in a lower court because of the waiver. They are filing an appeal and hope the case will be in an appellate court later this year.