According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, burn injuries, high cholesterol, and smoke inhalation aren’t the only dangers to watch out for while grilling. Grill-cleaning brush bristles apparently can pose a serious safety hazard if ingested accidentally. This can happen if the sharp, wiry bristles come off while the brush is being used to clean the grill and they then end up getting caught in the food during grilling. Injuries from swallowing these bristles have included soft tissue injuries, puncture wounds, gastrointestinal tract perforations, bladder injuries, sigmoid colon injuries, and other internal injuries, accompanied by severe pain. You may want to speak with a Boston products liability law firm to explore your legal options.
Last Month, CBSNews.com reported that the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report’s July 6 journal issue noted six cases involving grill cleaning brush ingestion at a Providence, Rhode Island hospital between March 2011 and June of this year. That’s just one facility. Adding insult to injury is that often, these bristles are so tiny that they can be hard to detect on X-rays, especially if an ER doctor, physician, or radiologist doesn’t know what to look for.
If you or someone you love suffered injuries from swallowing grill cleaning brush bristles, you may have grounds for filing a Boston personal injury lawsuit against the brush’s manufacturer. Another possible liable party might be the host of the barbecue or the person that used the brush to clean the grill. A lot of this will depend on your injuries and the specifics regarding how they happened.
Other injuries can also occur at a summer barbecue, including those involving a defectively designed grill or a propane tank defect that may cause a fire, charcoal and lighter fluid-related injuries, flame flare-ups from too much grease stuck in the grill, food illnesses from proteins that became spoiled after being left in the sun for too long, and overcooked meats.
Summer danger: Swallowing bristles from grill-cleaning brushes, Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2012
Injuries from Ingestion of Wire Bristles from Grill-Cleaning Brushes – Providence, Rhode Island, March 2011–June 2012, CDC, July 6, 2012
More Blog Posts:
Buckyballs and Buckycube Magnet Maker Sued By CPSC Over Child Injuries, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, July 31, 2012
Fire Hazards Prompt CPSC To Recall Frigidaire Gas Range, Big Lots Ceramic Space Heaters, and Other Products, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 21, 2012
Is CPSC’s SaferProducts.Gov Database Preventing Boston Injuries?, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 17, 2012