Georgia Injury Law Blog

A 21-month-old toddler, who sustained serious injuries when she was caught in a car power window, is recovering from injuries. The accident occurred last Friday when the child was alone in the family car with her three-year-old brother. The child’s neck became trapped in the power window when it suddenly became activated. She was initially unresponsive, and had to be rushed to the Barrow Regional Medical Center, and later to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  She is now expected to make a full recovery.

Fortunately, this horrible incident is like to have a happy ending. Injuries from activated power windows are not exactly unheard of. According to the NHTSA, every year, approximately 6 children die from power window accidents, and close to 2,000 children are injured.

Last year, Kidsandcars.org had conducted a survey that showed that power window accidents and injuries may be far more common than the NHTSA believes. The surveyors asked participants about whether they had ever caused injuries to anyone by activating a power window. Up to 6% of the participants admitted that they had indeed injured another person by activating a power window. According to Kidsandcars.org, when you translate those statistics into the general population in the United States, it works out to approximately 13.6 million power window-related injuries every year.

Even if you don’t agree with those statistics and allow room for error and exaggeration, you have to admit that there are likely millions of such incidents every year that are going overlooked. Part of the problem with the way in which the NHTSA studies power window-related accidents, is the fact that the agency only considers those injuries that have been treated in emergency rooms. It is highly likely that the majority of power window-related accidents and injuries end in the victim being rushed not to the emergency room, but to the family doctor.

The biggest step that parents can take to prevent such injuries is to make sure that little children are never left alone in a vehicle, even for a few seconds.

The Atlanta personal injury lawyers at the Katz Law Firm represent injured victims of defective products around Georgia.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Children | 0 Comments Permalink

New Pool Safety Guidelines Call for Swimming Lessons for Children Below 4

The general wisdom, thus far, has held that children may only begin swimming lessons after they complete the age of 4. Pediatrician groups have traditionally believed that children below 4 years of age, may not be developmentally ready for swimming lessons. That attitude is now changing. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, if children below the age of four have swimming classes, it could actually help prevent many pool drowning deaths

Drowning is the second biggest cause of unintentional death among children between the age of one and 19. The risks are dramatically higher for children between the age of one and four. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending a series of steps to prevent drowning-related deaths in children of this age group, and swimming lessons is one of those measures.

However, the group is warning that swimming classes may not be ideal for all children below the age of four. Children suffering from a cognitive or motor disability, may not benefit from swimming lessons at all. Further, it is important for parents and caregivers to know that swimming lessons alone cannot guarantee pool safety. Just because your child has taken a few swimming lessons, does not mean that you can leave him in a pool, unsupervised.

In fact, the pediatrician group is recommending a multipronged approach to preventing swimming pool-related deaths.

·        Install fencing around the pool. Fencing should be at least 4 feet high.

·        Make sure that all caregivers know how to perform CPR on a young child.

·        Never leave a child unsupervised around a pool.

·        Make sure that all doors to the pool are latched.

·        Take special care around backyard pools, inflatable pools and hot tubs. These are linked to a significant number of drowning-related accidents involving children, every year.

With summer here, the numbers of children frolicking in backyard pools, hot tubs, inflatable pools, public pools, and pools in apartment buildings, recreational complexes, and hotels, will increase. It is extremely important these facilities also make certain that their pool design, construction and safety measures meet all standards.

The Atlanta premises liability attorneys at the Katz Law Firm represent injured victims of slip and fall accidents, swimming pool accidents, assaults and rapes, and other accidents that occur on someone else’s premises.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Children | 0 Comments Permalink

Choking Is Still a Real Hazard for Children

In spite of concerted efforts by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make children's toys safer and choking-hazard free, thousands of children suffer a choking injury every year. Many of these choking incidents will be serious enough to require treatment in the hospital. According to a study, death is a very real possibility for those children who are admitted to a hospital for choking on a toy part or food.

The study looked at child hospital discharge data in 2003, and specifically noted 2,800 admissions for choking. Researchers found that approximately one in about every 30 kids hospitalized for choking, actually died in the hospital. The study also had one very interesting fact for Atlanta personal injury lawyers- about 25% of all choking-related hospital admissions were caused by toys or other products that were in compliance with Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations for these products.

Most choking-related hospital admissions were linked to choking on nonfood objects with about 60% of the cases, and the remaining 40% linked to choking on food. Approximately 60% of hospital admissions were boys. Children of an average age of 2.5 or more were likely to choke on food, and children of an average age of 4.5 were more likely to choke on small detachable parts from toys.

Doctors used bronchoscopies in approximately 52% of the cases to remove the foreign object on the airways, followed by esophagoscopies and tracheotomies. However, they were much more likely to retrieve the foreign object using esophagoscopies than using bronchoscopies.

With these kinds of risks involved, prevention is the best way to avoid choking incidents in your children. Make sure that food pieces are chopped into tiny parts and only buy products that are commended for your child’s age group. Toys with detachable parts are not recommended for children below three years of age.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Children | 0 Comments Permalink

Children More Likely to Be Injured by Routine Things During Holidays

It’s no secret that children run a much higher risk of being injured during a major holiday like Christmas, than other days. However, contrary to what many parents believe, the risks to children are not so much from performing holiday-specific tasks, as from doing routine everyday things, or so, a new study says.

Researchers compared the five-day period around eight major American holidays - Labor Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween and New Year's. The study which used data between 1997 and 2006, revealed that most holiday injuries involve sports and recreation activities. That's not any different from the rest of the year when children hurt themselves the most while playing.

Other injuries during holidays included accidents involving structural and furnishing hazards in the home. In other words, if you're the kind of parent who believes in keeping burning candles out of reach of your five-year-old, but have no problems leaving things lying about the floor, your child is much more likely to be injured from a slip and fall accident than being burnt by the candle.

• Some other interesting facts from the study:
• Children below the age of five, and boys, were much more likely to be injured during holidays.
• Christmas accounted for the least number of holiday-linked injuries.
• Burn injuries were the most prevalent during the Fourth of July. However, burn injuries were not the number one injury that occurred during this holiday.
• The most commonly injured body part in the 10 to 14 and 15 to 19 age group was the finger. Other commonly injured body parts were the face, hand and head.
• The Fourth of July was the deadliest holiday for children with 13 deaths occurring on this holiday between 1997 and 2006.

The Atlanta personal injury lawyers at the Katz Law Firm represent injured victims of car/auto/motorcycle accidents in and around the metro Atlanta region and around Georgia.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Children | 0 Comments Permalink