Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘injury’

We recently found this write-up from a CNN physician’s blog full of good information. Children under the age of four are just in the beginning of their developmental years.  For babies and toddler their sense of balance is anything but astute.  Because of this they often fall.  All parents understand that falling is second nature to toddlers and for the most part shouldn’t cause undo alarm.  But when a fall occurs by a stairwell or a hard sharp surface a more severe injury can occur. 

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In a Clearwater accident, a 2-year-old  child was injured when he was hit by a car Friday night. 

Reports say the boy had been standing with his mother at the corner of Cleveland Street and Frederica Avenue when he suddenly left the sidewalk and ran into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

Paramedics treated the child and he was then airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center due to serious injuries.  The driver of the vehicle has not been charged but the accident is under investigation.

Children, especially toddlers, are too often seriously or fatally injured as pedestrians. Toddlers (age 1 to 2) sustain the highest number of pedestrian injuries,  primarily due to their small size and limited traffic experience. Dangers for young children on the move include: darting out into traffic, playing in or near the street and riding a tricycle or bicycle in a parking lot, driveway or street. The news report states the child had been standing on the sidewalk with his mother prior to darting out into the street.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to injury around traffic because they can not judge distance or how fast a car is speeding toward them. They move quickly and run into the street without warning and are difficult  for drivers to see because of their small size.

Take these steps to safety:

Supervise, supervise, supervise!

Talk to them about street safety.

Set a safe example for children.

Find safe places for them to play.

 Florida Child Injury Attorney, working to make safety every child’s  reality.

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.

A USA Today Greenhouse report states that a dozen states are moving forward in considering restrictions this year on bisphenol A, an estrogen-like chemical implemented to solidify plastics in products such as bottles and cups, and widely used in  baby bottles.  The chemical is also present in the linings of metal cans, including infant formula, in order to hold up to high sterilization temperatures.

 According to WebMD, millions of tons of BPA are made annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 90% of Americans have measurable levels of BPA in their bodies.  Children have higher concentration levels of the chemical than adolescents or adults. 

 Last month, the FDA which in years past had deemed BPA safe, expressed “some concerns” due to new studies regarding the chemical’s potential side effects on the brain development of fetuses, infants and children. 

 The Greenhouse report states that Connecticut and Minnesota passed the first state mandate on BPA in food and drink containers intended for those 3 and younger.  Bills are now pending in Oregon, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington, D.C. 

Here are a few things to know about BPA, as summarized from an advisory by the Department of Health and Human Services:

    •    Plastic containers have triangular recycling codes on the bottom. Some   numbered 3 and 7 may contain BPA. Those numbered 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 very likely do not.
    •    Do not put warm or hot liquids into BPA containers.
    •    Do not use them if scratched.
    •    Most baby bottles are BPA-free because of voluntary changes by major manufacturers. Pacifiers and toys use materials without BPA.

The Dodson Law Firm is dedicated to providing  consumers the latest information and news related to child safety issues and injury protection. For additional  resources please visit our Florida Child Injury Lawyer website @http://www.jwdodsonlaw.com/practice_areas/child-injuries1.cfm

Last week news came from the U.S. Product Safety Commission, as they announced that U.S. subsidiaries of Japanese retailer Daiso, had agreed to pay a $2 million  penalty upon accusations they imported lead-tainted toys and dangerous children’s products. The companies based in California and Washington will not be able to import children’s products until they prove them to be safe. 

 CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said, “This landmark agreement for an injunction sets a precedent for any firm attempting to distribute hazardous products to our nation’s children.  We are committed to the safety of children’s products and we will use the full force of our enforcement powers to prevent the sale of harmful products.” With this fine, Daiso has initiated a new product quality and safety program.

Lead is a dangerous substance for young children.  Young children and babies are more susceptible to the dangers of lead poisoning  because they frequently put their fingers and hands into their mouths. Young children’s bodies also absorb more lead because they are growing and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects. When lead poisoning is not detected early, children can suffer: brain damage  and nervous system damage, headaches, behavior and learning problems,  slowed growth and hearing problems.

If you suspect there is  lead in your home or that your family has been exposed to lead, have their lead levels measured with a simple blood test.

If your child suffered an accident or an injury because of the negligence of another person, contact our Florida Child Injury lawyer for a FREE consultation @ 1-888-340-0840.

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.

With the big game coming up, safety officials are warning families to be safe and keep kids away from a potential TV that could cause injury if overturned. This also includes TV stands that could be a hazard as well, if pulled or climbed upon.

Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News

As reported by the New York’s Lower Hudson website, “Injury rates have been increasing year after year. It’s a serious problem,” said Don Mays, senior director of product safety and technical policy for Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “The good news is that it’s very preventable.”

Just a reminder to keep children safe while watching the Super Bowl game this weekend and also throughout the year!

SafeKids Worldwide, together with Fed EX, have created a program called “Safe Kids Walk This Way” in order to educate both  motorists and child pedestriansbout proper safety behaviors;  and create safer routes for children to walk.

The two organizations collaborate in more than 150 cities to host walk to school events. In the United States, these events take place on International Walk to School Day. This event is slated for October 6^th later this year.  “Safe Kids Walk This Way” initiates year-round school safety committees in order for students to have safer pedestrian environments.

 Safe Kids has posted some invaluable pedestrian safety rules on their website.  Children can be careless at times, spending five minutes with you child(ren) to reinforce some good rules of common sense is well worth the time and will protect your child from unintentional injury or potential dangers!

 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.

A recent report shows a  growing trend of injuries involving children and treadmills  is becoming worse each day.  A study, by researchers according to the article, at Our Lady’s Children Hospital found that a  total of 12 children (eight girls and four boys) were identified with friction burn injuries sustained from treadmills from January 2006 to March 2008, with the number of injuries recorded increasing fourfold between 2006 and 2007.

The injuries that can occur from treadmills can be life threatening. They include pediatric friction burns and require specialist care with the risk of long-term functional and cosmetic problems, split skin grafting, and others.

Research suggests the designs of treadmills should be enhanced to help prevent children from playing on this type of equipment.  Home treadmill injuries can be prevented by close supervision of children.