Florida Child Injury Law Blog

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The next year and a half Jared’s family would travel five states and seek out top specialists at leading hospitals as he battled to recover.  Today, Jared is still recovering but his condition has improved and his doctors say the chance of reoccurrence is very low. 

 The hard truth though, is  strokes are among the top 10 killers of children.  According to the American Heart Association, the risk of stroke in children 18 and younger is 11 per 100,000, or about 9,000 incidents a year.  Strokes also occur in about 1 out of every 4,000 births. 

 For more information on strokes and how they affect children, please visit know-stroke.org.

Our Florida Child Injury lawyers are committed to providing consumers with the latest child health and safety resources, product recall information and accident and injury prevention news available.

Earlier this year the New York Times published a story every parent should read.  It gives a detailed account of a 7-year-old boy who suffered a stroke.

 Two years ago, Jared Dienst and his mother were enjoying a summer day walking in St. Catherine’s Park in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  What happened next was about to change the course of their lives. 

 Jared became dazed, had a droopy left eye, became stiff and his speech was slurred, when suddenly,  he couldn’t walk or stand on his own.  His mother rushed him to the hospital where late that night after undergoing tests, a neurological team determined the 7-year-old boy had suffered a stroke.  Please see, Part 2

Our Florida Child Injury lawyers have been representing  victims of  injury throughout  the state of Florida, for over 25 years. Please call us for a free case evaluation @ 1-888-340-0840. There is no obligation to hire a lawyer.

Elizabeth Quinn is an exercise physiologist and fitness consultant who works with organizations designing functional training programs.  Here are some important tips she supplies for parent’s whose children are involved with youth sports.

 Although some may appear to be common sense, sometimes  it’s the “smaller things” that are overlooked that could lead to child injury. Many children experience  minor bruises and injuries as they participate in youth sports. But there are some safety considerations for parents in the event an injury does occur and steps to take  to protect children from more serious injuries.

• Does the coach have first aid training and an emergency action plan?
• Is there a safety policy regarding injury, illness, and inclement weather?
• Does the coach have your emergency contact information?
• Do you have contact information for the coach?
• Is there a first-aid kit always on hand?
• Is there available water, hydration at all game & practices?
• Is there a scheduled warm-up and cool down at games and practices?
• Does your child receive guidelines and recommendations about proper safety equipment?                                                                                                                
• Is safety equipment required for play?
• Are children allowed adequate rest between games and practices?
• Is sportsmanship, and fair play a core value of the program and the coach?

 Unfortunately, tragic accidents can  happen on the playing field.   Children have the potential for suffering many kinds of  serious injuries while playing sports including: broken bones, concussion, trauma, torn ligaments, sprains and strains, eye injuries and more. If you are unsure  about answers to even one of these questions, make a point to find out. It’s in your children best interest and safety that you do.  The Dodson Law Firm protects the interests of families every day.  For a free consultation with our Florida Personal Injury lawyers contact our office @ 1-888-340-0840.

Last week in Orlando, a group of 50 parents, volunteers and children all gathered in front of City Hall to voice their support of the Freedom Ride program.

 The program aids disabled youths and adults at Trotters Park through therapeutic horseback riding.  Those who participate in Freedom Ride are living  with a variety of disabilities and life challenges, some of which include: cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, ADD, autism, deafness, and blindness.

 The city of Orlando has decided not to renew the lease at Trotters Park after it expires next year.  It’s reported that city officials feel the land is needed for more soccer and basketball facilities. 

 The mother of one child, Jonathon Forthuber, who has cerebral palsy, explained the importance of the program. “He can’t walk, so when he’s on a horse, he’s walking. Things these kids shouldn’t be able to do, they’re doing. They ought to have an opportunity to keep doing it.”

 Mayor Buddy Dyer is exploring other options to possibly facilitate the needs of the program. 

The Dodson Law Firm wishes the families, children and volunteers well in these efforts and hope their voices will be heard by city officials. Freedom Ride sounds like an extremely worthwhile program, reaching out to the more than 50,000 disabled people  in the Central Florida area while providing an invaluable opportunity for this group of  children and adults.

Today, weight loss surgery is not limited to only adults.  In a recent report by the New York Times, Dr. Evan Nadler, co-director of the Obesity Institute at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington stated, “I honestly believe that in 5 to 10 years you’ll see as many children getting weight-loss procedures as adults.”

 There are concerns, however.  “You don’t really know what the outcome is,” said Dr. Edward Livingston, chairman of gastrointestinal and endocrine surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “You talk about the benefit being that it prevents kids from terrible chronic disease later in life. But some of them are going to regain weight. Some of them are going to have long-term complications and we won’t find out until later.”

 The questions that come to mind are obvious.  Are the surgical measures appropriate?  Would a diet and lifestyle change be more fitting?  While bariatric surgery may be warranted in some instances in order to prevent a child from suffering serious complications from obesity, given some of the questions that have been raised it clearly is not a surgery performed because of cosmetic reasons.

Dr. David Ludwig, a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and a leading expert on the subject, understands the pros and cons. He asserted in an online report that surgery with appropriate safeguards may be an option for those that have been carefully screened and have failed to have any success with other measures. 

But clearly there are risks. Bariatric surgery, he said, “can result in horrendous complications, require repeat surgeries and create a whole new set of medical problems.

 In the coming years more studies will undoubtedly emerge.  For more information on this important topic, the Mayo Clinic provides a wealth of resources regarding childhood obesity and treatment options.

Understanding and protecting the rights of children is imperative.  No parent, guardian or caretaker of a child should ever leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle.  This applies not only to family members but naturally to babysitters and day care centers as well.    

Children suffer serious bodily injuries and death being left in a car from a variety of dangers such as: extreme heat  or hyperthermia, strangulation from activating power windows and crashing when a car is knocked into gear. 

Florida State Statute:  FSS 316.6135 states  the following about leaving children unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle and the penalty of doing so.

“No parent, legal guardian, or other person responsible for a child younger than 6 years of age shall leave such child unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle for a period in excess of 15 minutes; however, no such person shall leave a child unattended for any period of time if the motor vehicle is running or the health of the child is in danger.” “Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (1) is guilty of a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable by a fine of:  Not more than $100; or not less than $50 and not more than $500 if the motor vehicle was running or the health of the child was in danger at the time of the violation.”

Any law enforcement officer who observes a child left unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle in violation of subsection (1) may use whatever means are reasonably necessary to protect the minor child and to remove him from the vehicle. If the child is removed from the immediate area notification should be placed on the vehicle.

Twelve states have laws specifically prohibiting leaving young children alone in cars. Child advocacy organization, Kids and Cars has been an influential lobbying group in the effort to toughen up legislation addressing the problem. “We’re trying to get people to realize it is just as dangerous to leave a child alone in a vehicle as it is to leave him near a body of water,” said founder and president Janette Fennell.  She reports “There are more states that make it illegal to leave an animal alone in a car than a child,  there has to be a specific law to make it illegal to leave a child alone. We want people to understand the dangers.”

Obesity in children can lead to a shorter life.  Those are the results that were found in a study published this week by the New England Journal of Medicine.  Thousands of children were tracked through adulthood and the heaviest youngsters were more than twice as likely as the thinnest to die prematurely, before age 55, of illness or a self-inflicted injury.

 A condition called pre-diabetes brings great concern. Youngsters with this condition were at almost double the risk of dying before 55, and those plagued with high blood pressure were at some increased risk. Obesity however was the factor most closely related with an early death, researchers said.

 “The message here is that if you take your kid to the doctor and the doctor says, ‘Well, their blood pressure is O.K., their cholesterol is O.K. and their sugar’s O.K..,’ the kid who’s obese still warrants our attention,” said Dr. Peter F. Belamarich, chief of specialty medicine at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.

 In Florida, 33% of children are considered overweight or obese.  This is higher than the national average of 31.6%.  These statistics have gradually risen since 2003.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV is responsible for 4,500 deaths and 125,000 hospitalizations of young children each year.  The symptoms of the RSV virus are similar in nature to the common cold:  cough, congestion, sneeze, runny nose and fever. 

Dr. John Prpich, a Tampa pediatric pulmonologist, said in an interview  that newborns are among those most at risk to the virus, as are premature babies and children with other health conditions, such as congenital heart disease and cystic fibrosis. Annually, an estimated 2 million children, 5 years old and younger will require medical attention for RSV-related illness, a 2009 New England Journal of Medicine report said. 

 Florida has the nation’s longest RSV season.  In the Tampa area, the virus generally is in peak season between August and March.  St. Joseph’s Children Hospital treated 332 hospitalized cases alone last year.

 Parents can find out more about RSV by visiting rsvprotection.com, there you’ll find helpful facts and resources that detail the virus.

Rsvprotection.com

http://www.rsvprotection.com/what_is/what_is.aspx

Case reports from the cancer study clearly reinforce the findings. 

 Lead researcher, Susie Pearce of London’s University College Hospital, stated that in one instance, a young woman “thought she was going mad” after three months of headaches and 12 visits to doctors.  Upon breaking down and crying at her doctor’s office, she was referred to a specialist.  She subsequently was found to be suffering from neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve tissue.

 In a particularly alarming case, a 22-year-old woman had a variety of symptoms.  They included frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding.  These continued for nine or ten years before finally she was diagnosed with colon cancer.  The cancer had spread to her liver. The woman has since died.

 Receiving prompt medical care is of utmost importance when we suspect that a loved one such as a teen, young child or even ourselves, are suffering from an ailment or symptom.  If you think your symptoms are being overlooked, see another physician or speak to a specialist.

A health news report published interesting information on the subject of cancer being overlooked among teens.  In a unique study, British researchers are concluding that teen and young adult cancer patients often feel frustrated that their symptoms are not taken seriously. 

 Interviews with 24 cancer patients between the ages of 16 and 24 revealed one common thread: a perception existed among these patients that they were not being listened to and that cancer was being ruled out as the result of their age.     

 Dr. Gregory H. Reaman, a pediatric cancer specialist at George Washington School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., agreed with the study noting the situation is similar in the U.S. “And it’s true for children, not just teens and young adults,” he says.

“The symptoms are pretty nonspecific — lethargy, pain, fever,  for example. So they are generally attributed to a benign condition, other than cancer, given the rarity of cancer in this age group,” Reaman says. Reaman also stressed however, that if symptoms persist they should be checked out.

Young people aged 15 to 24 account for less than 2% of all cancer cases worldwide.