Children's Injuries

March 6, 2018

How to Ensure that Your Child is Safe at Daycare

Most U.S. parents work outside the home. As a result, most small children receive some type of child care. Although many of these child care arrangements involve another family member (grandparent, aunt, or sibling), nearly one-quarter of young children are place in some type of organized child care, such as a day care center or preschool.

There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our children. If you need to find child care from someone other than a family member, it is important to ensure that the child care arrangement you choose is best for your child. With so many kids in day care centers across the country, injuries and accidents do happen. Fortunately, most of these injuries are minor and are not a symptom of negligence or abuse. But there are exceptions.

Child Care Safety Tips

Follow the advice below to ensure that your child is well cared for, happy and safe while at day care. In addition to protecting your child (and other children at the center) from abuse and neglect, the tips below can give you the reassurance and peace of mind you need to go about your day in a positive, healthy way.

Do your homework. Day care centers must be licensed and are required to follow state regulations. Part of the licensing process involves random site audits of the facility. When violations occur, they are generally made public via online databases.
Take a tour. Prior to enrolling your child in a day care center, it is important to understand the environment he will be in each day. Do staff seem to enjoy their jobs? Are they cuddling the babies, playing with the toddlers, and speaking to the children kindly? Are the kitchen and bathrooms clean, and are dangerous items, such as knives and scissors, placed out of children’s reach? Do the kids seem happy?
Talk to staff. Ask if they like their jobs, how long they have worked there, and what kind of qualifications they have. A high turnover rate (if most staff members have worked there for no more than a few months) can indicate a problem. And staff should have at least the minimum levels of training and education in early childhood development. A Boston day care negligence attorney can help you determine how to proceed if your child has been harmed due to another’s negligence.
Ask for the center’s safety policy with regard to handling injuries. Do their standards match your own? You can take this a step further by requesting a copy of their individual safety audits. Although this may feel like an uncomfortable question to ask, safety audits can provide important insight into the center’s history of safety and overall care.

Once your child begins going to a day care facility, it’s important to remain vigilant. Regularly reassess the level of care your child is receiving. Keep your eyes open for warning signs? Does she seem scared, anxious, or withdrawn when it’s time to go to day care each day? Is she always hungry or thirsty at pick-up time? Is she often covered in bruises, cuts, or bite marks? A MA child care abuse attorney can help you recover damages if your child has been harmed due to another’s negligence. Continue reading

March 6, 2018

VTech Infant Toys Recalled Due to Dangerous Safety Defects

by Altman & Altman

If your baby has a VTech rattle or travel mobile, potential defects could result in serious injury. According to WebMD, the company issued a recall due to the risk of choking and “struck-by” injuries.

What Products were Recalled?

Although no injuries have been reported to date, the two products below pose a risk of serious injury or death. If you have either of these products, remove them from your home immediately.

Shake & Sing Elephant Rattle: At least five consumers have reported that the elephant’s ears have broken off. Being quite small, the ears pose a serious choking risk to young children and babies. As a result, about 280,000 rattles have been recalled. The affected rattles were purchased online and at retail locations, including Amazon and Walmart, between November 2015 and November 2017.
Lights and Lullabies Travel Mobile: The company indicated that this mobile can be “risky to kids” due to a “plastic arm that clamps to a crib can crack and cause the mobile to fall into the crib.” As a result, an infant can be struck by the mobile, resulting in head injuries or bruising. Between February and November 2017, approximately 37,000 of the affected mobiles were purchased online and at multiple retail locations.

If you have one of these recalled product’s, it is in your best interest to stop using it immediately. A Boston defective products lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured by a defective or dangerous product.

Child Injuries Related to Products or Objects in the Home

Fortunately, no injuries from the products above have been reported. However, defective and dangerous products injure thousands of children every year. Safe Kids Worldwide has released a report showing the severity of this problem. Some of the statistics from the report are included below.

The most common cause of serious injury to children in the home is suffocation. In fact, nearly 1,300 children died by suffocation in 2013.
In 2013, more than 22,000 children went to the emergency room for injuries related to suffocation.
The vast majority of children who die from suffocation are under age one (80 percent).
About 26 kids die annually due to furniture tip-overs and other “struck-by” injuries.
Approximately 188,000 children require emergency medical treatment every year due to injuries caused by children’s toys.
More than 150 children are fatally injured from choking each year.

Determining Liability

If your child has been injured by a product defect, who is liable? This is a complex question, requiring extensive research and the help of an attorney who specializes in product liability. The distribution chain for a product includes multiple parties; different companies often design the product, manufacture the product and sell the product, and any or all can be liable for a defect. Product defects generally fit into one of three categories – design, manufacturing or marketing. A MA defective products attorney can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured by a defective or dangerous product. Continue reading

January 5, 2018

Fisher-Price Infant Seat Recalled for Fire Hazard

by Altman & Altman

Child product manufacturer Fisher-Price recently recalled about 65,000 of its motorized infant soothing motion seats because of their potential to catch fire. According to reports, there have been more than three dozen cases in which the seats have overheated. One device actually caught fire. Fortunately, no injuries have occurred, but the recall serves as a reminder that infants and small children should never be left unattended, even in a child “safety” seat.

Product Liability

If you have been injured by a dangerous or defective product, you may be able to recover damages by bringing a product liability lawsuit against the responsible party or parties. When it comes to determining responsibility, the fault can lie with any party in the product’s distribution chain. Parties can include the product’s designer or manufacturer, the manufacturer of component parts, the product assembler, the wholesaler, or the retail store that initially sold the product. A Boston product liability attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured by a dangerous or defective product.

Types of Defects

In order to win a product liability case, the plaintiff must be able to show that the injury was caused by a defective product, and that the product was made unreasonably dangerous by the defect. The three types of product defects are:

Design defects – These defects are present even before the product is manufactured.
Manufacturing defects – These defects occur during the product’s manufacturing or assembly. The design may have been perfectly safe, but an error in production caused the defect.
Marketing defects – When improper labeling or lack of safety instructions causes someone to get injured, this may be considered a marketing defect.

As mentioned earlier, the defect must make the product unreasonably dangerous. What does this mean? Well, consider a butcher knife. A butcher knife is dangerous by necessity. In fact, it would be made useless if the blade was too dull to injure someone. Although a knife is a dangerous product, a reasonable person would understand the inherent dangers. The knife would likely come with appropriate safety warnings, but it would be up to the consumer to use the knife responsibly and keep it out of the reach of children, for example. If a child injured himself on a such a knife, it would be difficult to argue that the injury was the fault of the knife’s manufacturer, designer, or retailer.

Possible Defenses

Product liability is a complex and constantly evolving area of the law. You might feel confident that a product defect caused your injury, but the manufacturer might argue that you altered the product once it was no longer under the manufacturer’s control. Another potential defense might be that your misuse of the product caused your injuries, and that the manufacturer couldn’t have anticipated this type of misuse. A MA product liability lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured by a dangerous or defective product, pharmaceutical, or medical device. Continue reading

December 15, 2017

Is Your Child’s Daycare Safe?

by Altman & Altman

Choosing the right daycare center for your child is one of the most important decisions you will make during their early years. You want them to have fun and be happy, but their safety and well-being is the primary concern. It is crucial that parents do their due diligence by researching facilities, performing their own inspections, and interviewing staff.

Tips for Choosing the Right Daycare Center

The tips below will help to ensure that you choose the right daycare center, the first time.

November 1, 2017

Fatal Cruise Ship Accident Prompts the Question – Are Cruises Safe for Kids?

by Altman & Altman

A little girl suffered a fatal fall on a Carnival cruise ship last week, raising questions about whether cruises are safe for young children. Zion Smith, an eight-year-old from the Bahamas, was waiting with her family to disembark the ship. Smith and her brother were leaning on an upper-deck railing to watch other guests disembark when she fell two stories to a deck below. According to Miami Dade Police, the ship was docked at PortMiami at the time of the accident. The child was rushed to the hospital, where she later died.

Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Carnival, assured the public that Carnival is an extremely safe cruise line for everyone, children included. She said that the railing from which the girl fell was 47-inches high.

“We hold broad appeal to the family market based on the fun, safe and secure vacation experience we provide,” said de la Cruz. She went on to say that more children cruise on Carnival than any other cruise line. Approximately 800,000 children are expected to sail on Carnival in 2017.

Lifeguards on Duty?

Other cruise lines, including Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, have made headlines in recent years for drownings on onboard swimming pools. In response, several cruise lines have added lifeguards, but it’s still “swim at your own risk” on many cruise ships. A Boston personal injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured on a cruise ship.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 30 reported incidents during the three-month period between April and June 2017. These included 19 sexual assaults and a missing person. And in 2016, the Carnival Pride struck a gangway while docked in Baltimore, causing more than $2 million in damages.

Types of Cruise Accidents

The numbers above may sound high, but remember that millions of people take cruises without incident every year. When accidents do occur, they are generally classified as one of the following:

Mechanical – power loss, fire
Weather related – storms, hurricanes, heavy fogs
Illness – gastrointestinal problems, such as Norovirus and Influenza, and other outbreaks of food poisoning or fever
Injuries – fractures, assault, sexual assault
Criminal offenses – theft, indecent exposure, drug possession
Deaths – missing persons, onboard drowning, falling or jumping overboard, murder, suicide, heart attack
Disasters – collisions, sinking, pirate attacks, capsizing

Although the above accidents and incidents are all possible, most are rare. Norovirus illness is actually one of the most common cruise injuries, with an average of 15 outbreaks annually. Continue reading

October 12, 2017

Is Your Child’s Car Seat Prepared for a Crash?

by Altman & Altman

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), children’s car seats are commonly installed incorrectly. More often than not, actually. Thanks to research and advancements in technology, car seats get safer every year. But it seems that the safer they become, the more complicated they are to use, with a vast array of anchors, chest clips, tethers, and pages of confusing instructions. The NHTSA reports that 59 percent of car seats are installed improperly.

Pediatrician Benjamin Hoffman believes that percentage is much higher. According to Hoffman’s research, 95 percent of newborn seats are being misused. Rear-facing and forward-facing seats are also a problem, with an 80 percent rate of misuse. A MA injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if your child has been injured due to another’s negligence.

“If you give a test and 95 percent of the people taking it fail, you have to assume there’s something wrong with the test,” said Hoffman. “Car seats are hard to use and there’s a lot of factors that feed into that.”

The Right Seat for My Child

And the problems don’t only lie with the installation of the seats. Selecting the right seat for your child’s age, weight, and height can also be an issue. “Every kid is sized differently and every car seat is sized differently, so it can be difficult,” said AAA spokeswoman Beth Mosher.

Don’t let price fool you. “The least expensive car seat meets the same federal standards as more expensive car seats,” said Hoffman. The types, styles, and brands of car seats can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many retailers are flexible about allowing you to see if the seat works for you, and returning it if it does not.

Common Errors

Once you’ve purchased your seat, local police stations and AAA locations often provide inspections of car seats at no cost. The need for such a service is evidenced by attending any of the multiple car seat clinics offered around the country. During these inspections, the most common errors found include:

Switching to a front-facing seat before the child is ready.
Switching to a booster seat before the child is ready.
Improper use of hooks, tethers, and belts that lock the child’s seat to the car.
Failing to ensure that harnesses fit the child snugly.

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of one and 13. Many of these deaths can be prevented with a properly installed car seat. “It’s really important to continue to hammer on the industry that they need to help us protect everybody,” Hoffman said.

Is it Defective?

Sometimes the issue isn’t with the installation or use, but with the product itself. Millions of car seats have been recalled due to design flaws including flammable materials, and defective harness systems. Having your car seat inspected once you’ve installed it may help to detect any defective, broken, or missing parts. A Boston injury lawyer can help you recover damages if a defective car seat has caused harm to your child. Continue reading

October 11, 2017

Who is Liable for Playground Accidents?

by Altman & Altman

Now that school is back in full swing, there are millions of children playing on playgrounds every day. Playgrounds provide kids with an opportunity to have fun, unwind, and engage in creative play. But when playground equipment is not properly maintained, or supervision is poor, injuries can occur.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 200,000 children go to the emergency room annually for playground injuries. Although the vast majority of these injuries are minor, children do suffer serious and life-threatening injuries every year. These include bone fractures, concussions, internal injuries, and amputations. In some cases, playground injuries can be fatal. Between 1999 and 2000, an average of 12 children died from playground-related injuries each year.

Was Negligence a Factor?

Playgrounds can be found at schools, daycare centers, community parks, and on private property. That being said, most playground accidents occur at school or daycare. To determine liability, you must first determine whether negligence played a role in your child’s injuries. A Boston personal injury attorney can help you determine how to proceed if your child has been injured due to another’s negligence.

Factors to Consider

When determining negligence, several factors will be considered. These include:

Was the equipment properly maintained? If a child is injured on playground equipment that is worn, broken, sharp, or that has rusted, the school or daycare may be liable. It is their job to properly maintain equipment, and replace broken or damaged parts immediately. If the playground is located in a community park, the municipality may be responsible.

Was there adequate supervision? Schools and daycare centers are responsible for providing adequate – and competent – supervision when children are on a playground. One adult might not be enough; there should be an appropriate child-to-teacher ratio at all times. However, you can’t expect someone to supervise your child outside of school hours, at community playgrounds, or on private property unless a specific arrangement has been made. If you leave your son alone at a community park, for example, and he falls off the climbing wall while you’re gone, you can’t claim another’s negligence.

Were reasonable safety measures taken to prevent injuries? Playgrounds should be designed and installed to prevent injuries. That’s why you see soft ground surfaces instead of concrete, and equipment with round edges instead of sharp corners. If a playground lacks these safety measures, the school, playground designer or installer, business, or municipality might be on the hook for resulting injuries.

August 31, 2017

Birth Injuries to Children During Labor and Delivery Process

by Altman & Altman

A birth injury is different from a birth defect. Birth injuries typically occur during the labor and delivery process and are often due to a medical mistake. Birth defects usually develop during pregnancy, beginning in utero. When a child suffers a preventable birth injury, the emotional and financial toll can be devastating for the family. Some birth injuries are minor and heal on their own with time. However, more serious birth injuries can cause permanent mental, physical and emotional damage.

A Boston birth injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if your child has suffered due to medical negligence. Birth injuries can be minor or severe, and they may or may not be caused by medical negligence. The most commonly-cited birth injuries include:

Brachial Plexus Injuries (BPI)

When the bundle of nerves originating from the upper spine are damaged during labor and delivery, the child may suffer a BPI. This injury can be temporary or permanent. A neuroma is one type of BPI in which a torn nerve fails to heal properly. Avulsion – the most serious type of BPI – occurs when the nerves are completely torn from the spine, resulting in total paralysis.

Bone Fractures

One of the most common birth injuries, bone fractures usually heal on their own. Bone fractures can be caused by medical negligence, but often they are the result of a difficult or complicated delivery. The most commonly-fractured bone in a newborn is the clavicle (collar bone), which may need to be broken if the infant’s shoulders are too wide to safely fit through the birth canal.

Perinatal Asphyxia

When a newborn doesn’t receive enough oxygen during the delivery process, he may suffer from perinatal asphyxia. Depending on the severity and length of oxygen deprivation, the child may be perfectly fine or he could have permanent damage to the brain.

Cerebral Ischemia

A newborn can suffer severe brain damage when there is a reduction in blood flow during labor and delivery. Cerebral ischemia may be caused by infection, shoulder dystocia, and overmedication of the mother.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries are generally severe and often result in permanent damage. The use of forceps is frequently a factor in cases involving spinal cord injuries in newborns. In addition to complete paralysis, spinal cord injuries can often cause neurologic problems. A MA birth injury lawyer can help you recover damages if your child has been injured during the labor and delivery process.

Cephalohematoma

A condition that generally occurs during the labor and delivery process, cephalohematoma is often linked to the use of forceps. Pooling of blood between the skull bone and inner layers of skin may result in a hematoma, which typically looks much worse than it is. In most cases, this condition is harmless and will heal on its own. However, if your child exhibits additional symptoms, such as anemia, jaundice, infection or unnatural bulging on the head, you should consult with your doctor immediately. Continue reading

August 31, 2017

Dangerous Daycare – Another Daycare Sued for Negligence in Child’s Death

by Altman & Altman

Weeks after three-year old Myles Hill’s body was found in the back of a daycare van in Orlando, another child’s death is blamed on being left in a hot vehicle while under daycare supervision. Last week in Alabama, the body of five-year-old Kamden Johnson was found in a van belonging to the Community Nursery & Preschool.

The child’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the daycare and its owners, Carl and Angela Coker, claiming that they were negligent in screening and hiring Valarie Rena Patterson, the employee responsible for leaving Johnson in the van on a 93-degree day. According to the lawsuit, Patterson has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1991.

In addition to the civil lawsuit, Patterson is facing manslaughter charges for her role in Johnson’s death. After finding the child’s body in the hot van, Patterson dumped him “on the side of Demotroplis Road,” according to court documents. Along with manslaughter charges, Patterson is also facing charges for abuse of a corpse.

Unfortunately, daycare negligence is surprisingly common. This summer alone, at least three children have died after being left in hot daycare vans. In addition to the two cases above, the body of a five-year old Arkansas boy was discovered in a similar scenario in June. And these are just the worst of the worst. Non-fatal daycare injuries occur due to negligence every day. A MA daycare negligence lawyer can help you recover damages if your child has been injured due to another’s negligence.

The Importance of Background Checks

A simple background check may have protected the daycare and its owners, at least to some extent. It would have almost certainly saved the life of five-year old Kamden Johnson. According to law enforcement, Mobile County jail records reveal Patterson’s extensive arrest history, including multiple theft charges and charges for failure to appear in court and driving without a license in the early 90s. She was also charged as a fugitive from justice in 1999 and for using the alias of Valarie Hardy during that arrest. Patterson was arrested a third time in 2007 on another fugitive from justice charge. A Boston wrongful death attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve lost a loved one due to another’s negligence.

Possible Signs of Daycare Negligence

Although the below signs can be due to factors other than negligence, you may want to investigate further if one or more of these signs is present, or if they persist. Common signs of daycare negligence include:

Unexplained scratches, wounds, or bruises
A child who appears withdrawn or depressed
A chid who is extremely hungry or thirsty when picked up from daycare
Frequent altercations or fights with other children at the facility
A child who is found outside of the facility

If you are concerned about daycare negligence, do your homework. Talk to the daycare about its hiring and screening procedures. Pay attention to your child’s mood at drop off and pick up. Assess whether staff appear happy and seem to enjoy their job. Drop in unannounced. And lastly, if something just doesn’t feel right, remove your child from the center. When it comes to our children, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Continue reading

July 19, 2017

Negligence at Daycare Facilities

by Altman & Altman

Choosing the right daycare facility is one of the most important decisions we make when our kids are young. Although we all want our kids to have the best possible start at life, there is more to consider than whether the facility serves organic food, teaches your toddler French, and provides lessons on impressionist art. Safety should be the most important factor to consider when choosing a daycare facility for your little one. Unfortunately, daycare negligence, and even abuse, do occur. Read on for more information about how to ensure that your child is safe and well cared for when you head to work each day.

Observe Staff

Pay attention to how daycare staff interact with the other children. Before enrolling your child in a specific daycare program, take a tour of the center. A tour doesn’t have to be limited to a five-minute walk through; you can spend several hours there if you so choose. You should observe the staff playing with the children, smiling, holding young children and babies, and engaging all children with loving interactions. There should be appropriate staff-to-children ratios to ensure that your child will get the one-on-one attention that he deserves. If staff seem stressed, overworked, or annoyed with the children, this could indicate a problem.

Staff Commitment

Ask about staffing turnover. Have most of the employees been at the facility for at least one year? Young children need stability, and this is best achieved by choosing a school with committed, long-term staff. A MA injury lawyer can help you recover damages if your child has been neglected at a daycare facility.

Credentials and Licenses

Check the facilities accreditations and licensing. In MA, daycare centers cannot practice without a state license. In addition, they should have insurance and a business license. These are the bare minimums. Special accreditations and credentials indicate a commitment to providing high-quality daycare.

The Surprise Visit

Drop in unannounced. Most people schedule an appointment to visit a daycare facility. Although daycare staff may appreciate being given notice, unannounced visits are your best bet at witnessing actual day-to-day operations. Dropping by unannounced means that things may be a bit more chaotic than during a scheduled visit; this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What you want to look for is general cleanliness, how staff is interacting with children, and if the environment appears safe and free from obvious hazards.

Special Care Policies

Ask staff about special care policies, such as how or if they discipline children, and how naps and special diets are handled. A good daycare facility will have policies for special situations and needs. If they don’t, you may want to keep looking. A Boston daycare negligence and abuse attorney can help you determine how to move forward if you suspect your child is being harmed at a daycare facility. Continue reading