Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘death’

 35,000 bottles of Scope Original Mint Mouthwash have been recalled in a cooperative manner between U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturer, Proctor and Gamble.  The recalled bottles have the number 4 on the bottom.    

 The one liter size bottles are being recalled due to malfunctioning child-resistant caps.  Proctor and Gamble also omitted an important message on that bottles in not stating, “This Package for Households without Young Children.” 

 One of the ingredients contained in the mouthwash, ethyl alcohol, is toxic.  Ethyl alcohol can cause serious injury or death if ingested by a child.   Every seven minutes a child under the age of 5 goes to the Emergency Room because of an unintentional poisoning.  Household products are responsible for 60% of the poisoning accidents with children under 5.   

 There have been no incidents or injuries reported.

Thousands of deaths and injuries occur each year as the result of children playing with fire.   More often than not, preschoolers and kindergarten age boys and girls are responsible for fire accidents, primarily because they have played with matches and lighters.  Sadly they are most likely to die from burn injuries.

 Children & Fire:  Facts & Figures

In 2006 children playing with fire started an estimated 14,500 structural fires

• 63% of all fire-related playing fatalities are children 5 and under
• Matches and lighters are involved in 80% of deaths and injuries started by children while playing

 Just last week a Tampa family was forced to leave their house due to a fire started by their 8-year-old child while his mother was away.  The boy who had been playing with matches set fire to a mattress that had been leaning against the house.  The fire erupted through the wood framed house and spread to the attic.  The damages were said to be worth $75,000.  The flames were so intense that the vinyl siding on a neighbor’s house was melted.  Fortunately, there were no injuries. 

Although this fire appears to have occurred outside of the home, the National Fire Protection Association states that people have nearly a 50% better chance of surviving a residential fire if their home has the recommended number of smoke alarms. Click on the link for additional safety tips provided by the National Fire Protection Association.

Clearwater Florida Child Burn Injury lawyer, working to make safety every child’s reality.

Is there a flaw in the free Safebeat EKG testing being offered to Hillsborough County schools through All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg?

According to an online report, some local medical experts think so. 

Cardiologist, Jorge McCormack is exercising caution with the program.  In almost 20 years at Pediatric Cardiology Associates, McCormack says he has seen many children who have life-threatening heart conditions, but EKG’s have not revealed their problem.  The reason?  EKGs won’t detect irregularities of the coronary arteries, the second-leading cause of death in young athletes. Occasionally they’ll pick up on rhythm disorders.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.”

Children playing with fire cause hundreds of injuries and deaths each year. Preschoolers and kindergartners often start these fires, usually  by playing with matches and lighters, and are most likely to die in them.

Facts & figures

• In 2006, children playing with fire started an estimated 14,500 structure fires that were reported to U.S. fire departments, causing an estimated 130 civilian deaths, 810 civilian injuries and $328 million in direct property damage.
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of all fatal victims of fires by playing are children 5 years old and younger.
• Nearly two out of every three child-playing fires — and four out of five associated deaths and injuries — involve matches or lighters.
• The items ignited by home fire-play are principally mattresses, bedding or clothing.

Source: NFPA’s “Children Playing with Fire“

Tampa Mom, Katie Guice, was concerned about the potential dangers the unsafe playground equipment at her neighborhood park posed for her young son.  A sign posted at  the entrance of Ballast Point Park warns parents that a fall to a hard surface from the playground equipment could lead to death for a child. Parents have reported incidents of  fall accidents on the playground.

This was troubling to Guice whose  three year old son, Rylan, enjoys playing with his friend at the park on equipment intended for older children (ages 5-14), not toddlers like Rylan.

A recent post to our Florida Child Injury website describes this young Mom’s determination and efforts to gather local community support  and to provide a safe and  developmentally appropriate  area for toddlers to run and play.

More than 30,000 children are struck by cars each year in the United States.  Additionally, Florida is home to 4 of the 5 most dangerous cities for pedestrians in this country.

Nothing is more precious than the safety of one’s child. As a Florida Child Pedestrian lawyer, undertaking the representation of an injured child in a pedestrian accident case is extremely difficult. Yet, the fact is that child pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5-14.  Why? Simply because children are exposed to traffic threats which far exceed their cognitive and developmental abilities. Children are impulsive and lack the ability to sense danger.

Their vulnerability  is  further compounded by Florida’s lack of adequate infrastructure to prevent child pedestrian accidents. More and better sidewalks, reduced speed limits, wider medians, adequate pedestrian signage, intersection signals and well marked crosswalks are all needed.

At the same time, let’s not overlook our need to educate our children about pedestrian safety, the dangers of the road and our responsibility to adequately supervise our children to prevent accidents from happening.

We all know how much children love to play.  It’s part of how they lead active and happy lives.  Falls among children are common, and at certain stages of their development happen almost every day.  However they can be serious…in fact falls are the leading cause of accidental injury for children. 

 Statistics from SafeKids.org  state children, 4 years of age and under, have the greatest risk for falls.  This age group accounts for 56 percent of childhood fall-related deaths and more than 40 percent of child injuries.

 Parents must be vigilant and keep a keen eye out in their home.  In fact, 80 percent of fall-related injuries among children ages 4 and under, occur right in their own house. 

 Knowledge is key to safety and injury prevention!  For tips on what you should know to prevent fall injuries and the steps to take, if your child does suffer a fall at home, please follow this link to an article posted in our Florida child injury website document library for more information.

Teens who have their own car are more likely to have a car crash than those who share a family automobile.  This came from an interesting study released earlier this year by researchers at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.

The statistics are staggering.  One out of every four teenagers who possess their own car has been in a crash.  That percentage drops to 10% for teens who share a car.  Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, killing more than 5,000 each year. 

In 2007, 7,000 people nationwide were killed in automobile accidents involving a teen driver.  3,000 of these individuals were teenagers. 

Our firm website provides important safety information in an effort to educate young drivers to avoid accidents and injuries, such as “Make Rules for Your Car”. There are also links to resources about subjects such as distracted driving and video links to teens and their own personal experiences with driving  and accidents.  

If you need more information, request  Jim Dodson’s  free accident book  and learn common mistakes to avoid if you or a loved one have been involved in a Florida Accident. Although the book is available at no cost, the information is invaluable.

 A new research study reported on the link between lead exposure to children and permanent brain damage. According to the article, “the study was presented Tuesday at an annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, looking at the long-term effects of childhood exposure to lead. Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that lead poisoning at a young age caused damage to the regions of the brain that control how decisions are made, and the brain damage from lead exposure persists into adulthood.”

Lead poisoning is a child common injury and can result in: nervous system injury, brain damage, seizures or convulsions, growth or mental retardation, coma and even death.

Within the article, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that approximately 250,000 children in the United States have blood levels greater than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, which is the level that the CDC considers deserving of public health action.

Many child injury cases with lead have been brought against landlords and property owners  for failing to maintain older rental properties where children and their familes live. Parents should also be aware of chemicals in certain toys which have been recalled due to product defects.

For additional information find a related link here  from a previous blog posted on our Florida Child Injury website.