Articles Posted in Children’s Injuries

For working Massachusetts parents, day care is often a necessity. However, there can be benefits for the whole family when children spend time away from home. A good daycare facility provides socialization with adults and other children, entertainment, and an opportunity to learn and play in a safe environment. But what about ‘bad’ daycare facilities? Negligence, cruelty, and even criminal behavior, are a parent’s worst nightmare when they place their child in the care of another.

Children can get hurt in the best of daycare facilities. It’s a fact of life. But some injuries are avoidable with proper supervision. Serious injuries are always cause for concern, but even minor accidents can indicate negligence. Likewise, even a minor lapse in proper care can result in serious injuries and death. In 2011, for example, a three-year old was fatally injured when he swallowed a pushpin. Apparently, the child found the pushpin when he was permitted to use the bathroom unsupervised. Paramedics were unable to revive the boy after he swallowed the object and choked. Although the boy died, the facility was only fined $150 by the state. In a case like this, a civil lawsuit can make a significant difference. Although compensation can never bring a child back, it can give the family extra time to heal.

Common Signs of Daycare Abuse and Neglect

Lack of supervision is the number one cause of daycare injuries, and inadequate staffing is often a factor. However, many other factors can come into play. Below is a list of possible indicators of daycare neglect and abuse. Although some of these potential signs can be entirely benign on their own, you may want to take action if you begin to notice a pattern.

• Unexplained scratches or scars
• Child appears depressed or withdrawn
• Child is often extremely hungry or thirsty at pick-up time
• Child is frequently involved in altercations with other kids
• Child is found outside of the facility

When choosing a daycare facility, look for the following:

• Adequate staffing
• Clean environment
• Proper safety standards and protocol
• Well-stocked and easily accessible first aid tools and supplies
• Proper feeding schedule with nutritious food and adequate portions
• Easy access to water
• Proper and clean bathroom facilities
• Children who look happy
• Caregivers who appear happy, well-rested, relaxed, and who seem to like their job

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General Motors has just introduced a feature they call the “Rear Seat Reminder” for their U.S. customers.  This feature prompts drivers to check the back seat as they leave their vehicles under specific conditions.  This technology is believed to be the first of its kind in the automobile industry.  There have been too many tragic stories of children being left in cars and dying while their parents run errands.  About half of the children under age 14 who die of heatstroke in cars are actually forgotten.  From 1998 to the present, 673 children have died from heatstroke after being left in cars, 54 percent being forgotten.  The consumer website for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes the extreme temperatures that the interior of vehicles can reach.  It only takes ten minutes for the temperature inside a vehicle to rise over 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  Even if it’s 60 degrees outside, the temperature inside a vehicle can be as high as 110 degrees.

Although parents or pet owners may not even consider the hazards of temperature when it’s a breezy 60 degrees outside, children and pets can easily die of heatstroke if left in cars for any amount of time.  In addition to this negligence, belongings left in the back seat of cars are often targets for theft.  Almost 23 percent of theft in 2014 involved items from a motor vehicle.  Spreading this kind of awareness of the dangers of leaving children and belongings in cars can prevent unnecessary deaths or robberies, but GM goes further by trying to prevent deaths from busy parents who genuinely forget their children through their new Rear Seat Reminder feature.  GM global safety strategy engineer Tricia Morrow states, “Whether it’s your lunch, laptop, pet or most importantly, your child, it’s easier than it seems to forget what’s in the back seat when moving between life’s events.”   This new feature will appear as a standard feature first in GM’s 2017 GMC Acadia SUV to U.S. customers.  Continue reading

Swimming Pool Accidents

Summer camps often involve swimming. Although swimming pools can provide great fun, and respite from the hot sun, they can also pose dangers. Minor injuries from pool chemical reactions and slips on wet surfaces are common, but campers can also suffer more serious injuries, such as electrocution from improperly wired pool lights, and drowning. Contact a Boston Personal Injury Lawyer Today.

If your child is injured in a pool-related accident while at summer camp, what do you do?

To successfully sue for damages, you must prove a breach of duty, and that damages occurred due to that breach. What is a breach of duty? Camp owners have a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect campers from harm. If the camp owner failed to take reasonable care, he or she may be found liable for negligence. For example, if a camp owner neglects to put a fence around the perimeter of the pool and an unsupervised camper sneaks in and drowns, the owner will likely be held responsible.

Who is Responsible for Summer Camp Injuries?

In most cases, the camp itself is responsible for keeping your children out of harm’s way. In order to uphold this duty, camps are required to take proper precautions and exercise good judgment, both before the camp begins and while it is underway.

In addition to inspecting grounds and facilities to ensure that they are free of hazards, camps typically have to perform background checks on staff. If a camp fails to perform this type of background check and a staff member harms a child, the camp will likely be found negligent.

There are certain injuries for which a camp is not responsible, however. For example, inherently-risky activities, such as football camp, may require that you sign a waiver for injuries that may occur during play. Basically, you assume reasonable risk. However, injuries that fall outside the parameters of reasonable risk, such as heat stroke due to the lack of water breaks on a 100 degree day, is another story altogether.

The bottom line is, kids get injured at camp. It’s the nature and severity of those injuries that determines whether or not a lawsuit is in order.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable by Law?

The short answer is yes. Camp waivers are generally two-part forms; the ‘assumption of risk’ part and the ‘release of liability’ part. The assumption of risk section basically says you will not sue the camp for a risk that you acknowledged at the time of signing. For example, if your child is in hiking camp and he falls while hiking and breaks his leg, you can’t sue. If, however, the instructor accidentally shoots your child in the eye with an unauthorized bb gun, you have some options. You didn’t assume the risk of shooting injuries during hiking camp, therefore, the ‘assumption of risk’ is not applicable.

The release of liability, on the other hand, basically absolves the camp from all injuries suffered while on the grounds. While a waiver for negligence is usually enforceable, it should include an exception for malicious and intentional acts. Without this, the waiver is most likely unenforceable. Continue reading

Millions of children and teenagers across the United States, from elementary school through high school, play school-sponsored sports and activities. A vast number of these students are treated each year for injuries caused by their participation in these physical activities. While a majority of sports-related injuries are minor and are treated in outpatient facilities, if they require any medical attention at all, there are also instances where injuries are more serious and even life threatening, and thereby require emergency and sometimes long-term medical care.

For parents of student athletes, especially those whose children play aggressive contact sports, such as hockey, rugby, football, soccer, and even acrobatic sports like gymnastics and cheerleading or non-contact sports like swimming, safety is a real concern, especially given the high instance of traumatic brain in juries, concussions, and broken bones. When a student athlete is injured during a game or practice, not only do concerns circle around whether the student is/will be okay, but also who is financially responsible for covering any medical care needed to treat an injury.

According to statistics compiled by Lawyers.com from Safe Kids USA and the American Academy of Pediatrics,

• Each year, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 years and under receive medical treatment for sports injuries. More than 30 million children participate in sports each year
• 62% of organized sports-related injuries happen during practice rather than during games
• Collision and contact sports, like football and rugby, have higher injury rates, but injuries from individual sports, such as gymnastics and swimming, are usually more severe
• About 33% of parents don’t take the same safety precautions during their child’s practice as they do for a game, and there are statistics showing that schools and coaches take practices less seriously than games when it comes to injuries

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Hand sanitizers have become increasingly popular over the years as people have become more fearful of germs and what they can do to our bodies. Sanitizers contain approximately 70-90% alcohol content that allows for the immediate removal of germs on your hands. But recent studies show that children may become poisoned by the sanitizers if the children were to ingest them—also a trend that seems to be on the rise as these new sanitizers come in a variety of scents that could prove confusing to young children.

A mother from Easton, Massachusetts, Jennifer Daly has said that in a home with three children, she treats hand sanitizer as a toxin. She keeps the sanitizer bottle on the top shelf of a medicine cabinet along with the other medicine that needs to be kept away from young children. Daly  is the mother of twin 5 year olds as well and an 8 year old child—she is doing what she feels is in their best interest in an effort to keep them safe from the harmful side effects that come along with ingesting hand sanitizer.

According to reports released form the Georgia Poison Center, the number of cases of children under 12 years of age who have suffered harmful side effects as the result of ingesting hand sanitizer has quadrupled from 2010 to 2013. There were 16, 117 cases reported nationwide of children suffering from hand sanitizer poisoning in 2013 as opposed to the 3,600 reported nationwide for 2010. Dr. Gaylord Lopez, director of the Georgia Poison Center, has said that children have a tendency to eat things regardless of how they may smell and taste. Dr. Lopez has stated that this is one of the main causes for alarm in terms of children ingesting hand sanitizer. Nowadays, the sanitizers come in a variety of scents, such a strawberry, grape, and cherry. Some children may not realize the severity of the matter when they ingest such sanitizers, and may become “drunk” as a result of the sanitizer consumption.