Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘child injury lawyer’

Retinoblastoma affects about 300 children in the United States every year and 5,000 kids worldwide.

 In New York, a 2 year- old child had surgery to remove her left eye. Her mother first spotted the trouble while bathing her daughter. She noticed  her daughter’s eyes were “reflecting funny”  -similar to the glassy, glowing quality a dog’s eyes have in photographs. Her next pediatrician appointment, the mother asked the doctor to take a look. When a light was shined in the little girl’s eye,the doctor saw nothing. The mother prompted the doctor to look again without a light and this time, she spotted something abnormal.

 It was soon discovered the toddler suffered from retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer affecting the retina, the layer of cells at the back of the eye that senses light.  As good as healthcare is today, unfortunately cases such as this still occur.  Could it have been caught earlier? How can parents protect their child from the same kind of tragedy?

 ”If we had known what we were looking for, it would have been easy to pick up. That’s what makes me upset,” the child’s mother said. “There are so many things that people warn you about, don’t buy this toy because it was made somewhere and it could have lead in it and don’t let your child use this stroller because the safety mechanism is off.”

 In yet another case, a jury in Chicago awarded an 8-year-old boy $7.9 million dollars in a negligence case against his pediatrician.  The child had been seen by his pediatrician up until he was about a yr. old. The doctor  had examined his retinas on 7 separate occasions.  On a subsequent visit to another pediatrician, the youngster was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. He lost vision in both eyes.

  Symptoms of retinoblastoma may include:

• A white or pink pupil and lazy eye
• Less common symptoms are redness in the white part of the eye
• Eye pain
• Vision problems and
• A pupil that does not get smaller with light

 Two thirds of the cases of retinoblastoma are the non-hereditary type in which the gene mutation develops after birth and is present in only one eye. As far as cancers go, the outlook is said to be good. More than 90 percent of kids with retinoblastoma can be cured.

Download a copy of a “Parent’s Guide to Understanding Retinoblastoma” by clicking here.

Always seek the advice of a medical specialist if you have concerns about anything related to your child’s health and well being. If you believe you may have the basis for a medical negligence claim, contact a Florida Medical Malpractice attorney who has experience handling child injury claims. But don’t delay, Florida has strict time limits for bringing a medical malpractice claim.

Clearwater Child Injury Lawyer, Working to Make Safety Every Child’s Reality.

A Manatee County school bus accident sent 2 students to the hospital for treatment of injuries. The rear-end crash happened when the bus was stopped at the railroad tracks at U.S. 301 North and 19th Ave. East  when the driver of a pickup truck did not stop and plowed into the back of the bus. The  driver was identified as Juan Hernandez-Lopez, 27, of Palmetto.

Florida Highway Patrol reported Lopez was charged with driving under the influence (DUI) resulting in propertydamage/personal injury, driving without a valid Florida driver’s license,  failing to have proof of insurance and careless driving.

Florida law requires school bus drivers to stop at railroad tracks and check for oncoming rail traffic before proceeding.

As a Clearwater child injury lawyer and an advocate for child injury prevention, I am committed to providing the public with health and safety resource information to reduce the risk of a child being needlessly hurt in accidents. Because car accidents are the leading cause of injury to children, I frequently provide information about car seat safety. So here we go!

Child Passenger Safety Week is observed every year nationwide. This year we observe it Sept. 19-25. The event sponsored by the “Safe Kids”  organization  is a time to remind parents and caregivers to keep children properly restrained in a car seat that meets their height and weight requirements – every time and everyday.

There still remains a lot of confusion particularly concerning booster seats. How do you know when your child needs one?  When can they ride without one? Booster seats when used appropriately greatly reduce the risk of  serious injury to a child  in a car accident.

 ”Boost” your knowledge about booster seats with the following info from Safe Kids:

Myth Number One

Myth: My child just turned 8 years old and I told him it was okay to not use a booster anymore. He is around 4 feet 3 inches.

Fact: Although this child is 8 years old, he is not tall enough to be out of a booster. A child needs to remain in a booster seat until a seat belt fits properly without the assistance of a booster, which is around 4 feet 9 inches. The purpose of a booster is to help position/raise a child so that the seat belt fits appropriately. If a backless booster comes with a separate shoulder belt positioning strap, use it to help with the proper adjustment of the shoulder belt. High back boosters have a factory installed positioning guide built onto the side of the booster to adjust up or down based on your child’s height. Be sure to use it for proper fit.

To determine whether your child is big enough to no longer use a booster, be sure you have him/her take The Safety Belt Fit Test . If he/she doesn’t pass all the steps, it’s not a big deal. Just be sure they continue using a booster with the seat belt, and retest in a couple months.

Myth Number Two

Myth: Boosters are not necessary for traveling short distances.

Fact: If a child meets the requirements to use a booster, then he/she needs to be in a booster at all times while driving in a car, even if you’re going around the corner to drop your child off at school or a friend’s house, or to pick up groceries at the local store.

Myth Number Three

Myth: Sometimes when I’m driving a lot of kids around (for example carpooling to a birthday party), I don’t have enough boosters for everyone. Since this only happens occasionally I don’t see it as a problem.

Fact: If a child needs a booster at any time, then he/she needs a booster ALL the time. If you don’t have enough boosters, never hesitate to borrow one from the families you are carpooling with. In fact, if all the children in the carpool cannot be properly restrained, then they shouldn’t be in the car.

Tune in tomorrow for Myths Number 4 and 5 and additional child safety seat information on our law firm’s Florida Child Injury Law blog.

An advertisement by the Allstate Insurance Company  in the Wall Street Journal,  caught our attention!

The ad headline, with an eye-catching  graphic read: “Why do most 16-year-olds drive like their missing part of their brain?  Because they are.” 

A teenager’s brain is not fully developed until their 20’s. The dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, the “missing part of the brain,” plays a major role in teenager’s decision-making and the understanding of consequences. That is why as parents of teen drivers, anxiety and a lot of prayer go along with seeing our young drivers pull out of the driveway; and a sigh of relief and thankfulness when they are home safely!

 Allstate reminds us  teen drivers, yes, even bright, seemingly mature teens sometimes do things the insurance people label as “stupid.”  But  they say- it’s not really their fault!

The company supports  the Standup Act, or the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2009.

 The law creates a National Graduated Driver Licensing law that would provide teens with  on-the-road experience gradually, while helping them avoid risky conditions.

 States that have implemented GDL programs  have seen the number of fatal crashes among 16-year-old drivers fall by almost 40%.

Florida instituted it’s GDL program on July 1, 1996. 

Florida Child Injury Lawyer Jim Dodson, working to make safety, every child’s reality.

We recently read an interesting write-up addressing a study performed at the Pediatric Specialty Center in New Orleans.

The report indicates doctors may be over-prescribing anti-reflux medication to infants.  The study found fewer than 20% of the babies who had been prescribed the medication actually needed it.  It’s thought that they may have just been exhibiting the normal behavior of “spitting up” that newborns experience. 

Dr. Vikram Khoshoo, author of the study, suggested the drugs are being over prescribed because parents want something done to try to stop the regurgitation and irritability of the babies.  Dr. Khoshoo adds that taking proper care in not over feeding your child and ensuring your baby is positioned upright after eating, should help decrease the chance of reflux.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Household injuries are one of the top reasons kids under age 3 visit the ER, and nearly 70% of the children who die from unintentional injuries at home are 4 years old and under. Young kids have the highest risk of being injured at home because that’s where they spend most of their time.

Supervision is the best way to prevent injuries, in the home and out, but even the most watchful parents can’t keep kids completely out of harm’s way every second of the day.

We’d like to share additional information with you on making your home safer.  We went over some tips in part 1, but here are a  few more.

 1) Child monitoring system.  These systems offer peace of mind and protection.  They come in audio and video configurations.  Monitoring your child when they are out of sight in another room provides a safe environment.

 2) Carbon Monoxide Detector.  Reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning by installing these detectors outside a child’s bedroom or other sleeping areas in your home.

 3) Safety Gates.  Children need to be diverted from dangerous areas, including   stairwells and places you consider off-limits.  Safety gates that can be attached to a wall offer more protection than pressure gates.

4.) Always keep guns, toxic items and choking hazards safely stored and locked up  and out of the reach of children.

5.) Keep a list of emergency contact phone numbers near your phones in the event of an emergency.

 Protect your child from unintentional injury.  Implementing safety devices and keeping a watchful eye will benefit your child.  An ounce of prevention goes a long way!

 Authorities don’t know why a 44-year-old Kissimmee man lost control of his car Sunday night, causing him to hit a light pole and sign post. The man was taken to Osceola Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

A 9-year-old boy who was a passenger in the car was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital to treat serious injuries he sustained in the car crash. Florida Highway Patrol says  the boy was not wearing a seatbelt.

The Dodson Law Firm urges all drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts.  The failure of a child to wear a seatbelt or use a child restraint safety device is a contributing factor in more than one-half of the accidents in which a child dies.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports, “safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by forty-five percent. Wearing a seat belt is no longer an option. It’s the law.

Trusting a school with your child takes a great deal of faith…for Lee Ann Mizell, that trust has been lost.

Her daughter, 5-year-old, Kaylee Mitchell has been put at risk twice in the last few months when school officials at Griffin Elementary in Lakeland have lost track of her.

Kaylee is supposed to attend an aftercare program at Griffin. According to her mother, she has been put on a  schoolbus two times and been sent home instead. The problem…her mother works during the day and hasn’t been there at the apartment complex to pick Kaylee up. Both times she has been found wandering around the complex lost.

Fortunately no accidents have occurred. Charlene Brinson, Polk County’s Director of Elementary School issued this statement, “The teacher was dealt with. That’s all I can tell you. It’s a personnel matter.”

Kaylee’s mother is taking matters into her own hands, she is transferring her daughter to another school.