When a child is injured due to unintentional injury (an accident or negligence), parents and healthcare professionals are needed to help support the recovery of the young life. Sadly, a child’s recovery due to injury may take significant time and financial investment. In other cases the consequences of the child’s injury may cause permanent disabilities that change forever opportunities and education and independence of the child. An injured child requiring full-time care can impact parents’ ability to go to work. Parents often incur financial losses, modify their home, pay for medical treatments, daily medications and future care for the child. Such issues and concerns can be emotionally daunting and financially devastating.
If an injury is so severe the child passes, a family’s grief is unimaginable. Attorney Jeffrey Killino understands there is no excuse for the negligent actions or inactions that cause a child to suffer. Killino and his child injury team know it is heartbreaking to see your child in pain; they understand that you are consumed with grief and maybe even guilt. We can help your family through such a shattering, life-altering event and guide you through every step to hold each responsible party accountable for their negligence.
How Children Are Injured—Leading Causes
Injuries are a major source of childhood emergency department and hospital admissions. The most recent accident statistics from the National Safety Council, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and other sources tell us the following:
- All child accidents are preventable, and all of them can lead to serious child injuries. According to the to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), injury is the leading cause of death in children and young adults.
- Approximately 12,000 children and young adults, ages 1 to 19 years, die from unintentional injuries each year.
- About 2,000 children ages 14 and under die each year as a result of a home injury.
- Most injuries occur in “safe” environments. Primarily fire and burns, suffocation, drowning, firearms, falls, choking, and poisoning cause unintentional home injury deaths.
The most common causes of child injuries are motor vehicle accidents, choking, drowning and falls. Defective products, from toys to sleepers to car seats, can also cause severe injuries. Sadly, Children are easy targets for neglect and abuse, and none are as vulnerable as foster kids. Neglect also happens in daycare.
A “struck by” injury — caused by forcible contact or impact between the injured person and an object or piece of equipment—surprisingly is the second or third leading cause of emergency room visits for children.
Pediatric malpractice occurs when a pediatrician fails to provide a reasonable standard of care to your child. For instance, if your pediatrician failed to properly diagnose your child’s illness, or delayed a diagnosis, and the failure was a result of the pediatrician’s negligence, the pediatrician may be liable for the injuries sustained by your child as a result of the misdiagnosis.
Child Injuries and Negligence
You are right to want to hold that person accountable for your child’s accidental injury or death. You are also right to seek compensation for all losses caused by your child’s injury or wrongful death by working with a skilled child injury attorney. Child injury lawyer and child advocate Jeffrey Killino protects child’s legal rights.
Attorney Jeffrey Killino and his team understand the need to preserve evidence and investigate the cause of your child’s injury, and the need to deal with insurance companies or corporations. The child injury team can help you set up a trust fund to pay for all future health care expenses ( and cover the past expenses too); set up a fund to compensate for the pain and disruption you child has suffered and above all to get justice for your child. We must prevent other children from being injured by this type of accident again or.
Types of Child Injuries
All child accidents are preventable, and all of them can lead to serious child injuries. There are a multitude of child injuries ranging in severity. Some of the types of child injuries that could occur are:
Besides motor vehicle accidents, highest death rates are suffocation for children less than one year. Airway obstruction injury (suffocation) is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among infants under age 1. Suffocation is remarkably common because of the varied and unexpected number of common household objects that pose a threat to young and curious children. These numbers could be greatly reduced, however, through safely designed products and warning labels.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4 and one of the leading causes of injury-related deaths in children (known as fatal drowning). The majority of drownings and near-drownings occur in residential swimming pools and in open water sites. However, children can drown in as little as one inch of water.
Most children who survive a drowning accident often face lifelong catastrophic injuries. Non-fatal child drowning injuries include:
- Coma
- Seizures
- Brain Injuries
- Cognitive Changes
- Personality Changes
- Hemiparesis
Thankfully, most choking incidents are handled quickly and efficiently. Sadly, this cannot be the case every time. A certain percentage of childhood choking victims do not survive their injuries. Even those who do survive may face terrible consequences, including brain damage from lack of oxygen. Choking on children’s toys and other children’s products is the leading cause of death among youngsters. Even when children are eating food they are at a high risk for choking incidents.
Child brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. Even more devastating, many child brain injuries go undiagnosed, sometimes for years. Symptoms of a brain injury in children are similar to those experienced by adults, but the functional impact can be very different. The cognitive impairments of children with brain injury may not be immediately obvious after the injury, but may become apparent as the child gets older.
Brain injuries at birth may occur as a result of medical negligence during any stage of a woman’s pregnancy.
Because child brain injuries are often complex, a child can experience a range of symptoms after a traumatic birth injury, slip and fall, sports injury, vehicle accident or any other serious accident. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents contact their child’s healthcare provider for advice for anything more than a light bump on the head.
The most common causes of child and adolescent head injuries are falls, motor vehicle crashes, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, sports-related trauma, and child abuse. Falls accounted for almost half of all TBI-related emergency department visits, followed by being struck by or against an object. Horrifically, homicide was the leading cause of TBI- related death for children ages 0-4 years.
Broken bones
A broken bone, also called a fracture, is when a break goes through part or all of a bone.
Falls cause most of the fractures in kids, but the most serious bone breaks usually result from car crashes. Accidents are the most common reason for toddler fractures. Even babies who aren’t so mobile can break bones when they fall off a high spot, like a changing table or your bed. Thankfully many broken bones in children aren’t serious because a baby’s or toddler’s bones are more flexible than an adult’s and they actually don’t break as easily (they tend to bend or buckle instead).
Types of bone fractures include:
- Greenstick fracture: a break on one side of the bone only
- Buckle or torus fracture: an outward bend on one side of the bone without breaking the other side
- Avulsion fracture: when a tendon or ligament pulls off of a tiny piece of bone
- Growth platefracture: a break in the area of a child or teen’s growing bone
- Stress fracture: a tiny crack in the bone
- Comminuted fracture: a bone breaks into more than two pieces
- Compression fracture: a collapsing of the bone
Amputations
Pediatric traumatic limb amputations are rare and their acute and long term management can be challenging. Traumatic limb amputations are serious injuries that can result in prolonged hospital stays, disability and psychological consequences for a child amputee. And the recovery can be complicated, leading to problems including depression, confusion, problems with everyday activities, phantom limb sensations and pain, all of which affect their future.
Fingers account for majority of pediatric amputations: among children 4-years-old and younger, amputations resulting from being caught in or between objects were the most common, and more than 80 percent of these injuries involved a finger or thumb.
Children are more likely than adults to be bitten on the face, neck, or head, which can result in disfigurement, scarring and trauma. The AAP say that most reconstructive surgeries required as a result of dog bites are performed on children. Some experts predicted that half of all children will suffer a dog-bite injury before they graduate from high school.
Burns are severely painful and can lead to many medical complications. The AAP advises parents to seek medical attention for a child who has suffered anything more than a minor burn. Our team of child burn injury attorneys can help you with a case involving any kind of burn, including the following:
Young children are especially vulnerable to burn injury outcomes such as
- Nerve damage
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Infection
- Loss of limb
Lacerations and scars
A laceration is tear or opening in the skin caused by an injury. Lacerations may be small and need only minor treatment at home, or may be large enough to require emergency medical care. Lacerations that involve the face, are longer than 1/2 inch, are deep, or are bleeding heavily, may require stitches.
Facial lacerations produce a lot of anguish for both children and their parents. But there is good news: the majority of facial lacerations heal very well and become good stories. A scar is the pale pink, brown, or silvery patch of skin that grows in the place where you once had a cut, scrape, or sore. Most people have scars because a lot of injuries leave behind scars. Again, scars can make good stories. But a permanent scar can be devastating and children may need multiple plastic surgeries particularly for keloid scars and that is still no guarantee. And long-term psychological consequences are serious. Parents should consult with a pediatric plastic surgeon.
Eye injuries are the most common preventable cause of blindness, according to KidsHealth. Most minor eye irritations can be treated at home by flushing the eye with water, but more serious injuries need medical attention. So when in doubt, err on the side of caution and call 911.
Chemical poisoning can be caused by household products, medication errors, lead paint and mercury in toys and more. Lead poisoning of children has been so frequently detected that the AAP) and the CDC at one time recommended that all U.S. children between age one and two have their blood tested for the presence of lead. Our child poisoning injury lawyers can assist you if your child has been hurt by ingesting poisons such as:
- Prescription Medications
- Bleach and Household Cleaners
- Paints and Varnishes
- Fertilizer and Pesticides
Comas in children have many causes. Traumatic head injuries, which may be sustained when children use inadequate or defective equipment during sporting activities, when children are negligently supervised on playgrounds, or when children are victims of physical abuse, often lead to comas and permanent injuries. Other causes of comas in children include the following:
- Seizures
- Lack of oxygen (caused by non-fatal drowning or strangulation)
- Brain infection
- Surgical error
Children afflicted by paralysis will never again lead the lives they once enjoyed and very young children who sustain paralysis injuries will never have the opportunity to utilize the full functionality of their bodies. Injuries sustained at birth may prevent a child from moving parts of the child’s face or certain extremities.
Paralysis tragedies often result from avoidable incidents. For instance,
- Medical negligence or poor supervision, such as a fall from a high area.
- The use by a child of a defective product
- Paralysis injuries can also result from the use of unsafe toys and other recreational equipment, such as the use of trampolines, which can cause brain and spinal injuries that result in paralysis
Tragic birth injuries result from a number of issues and complications, some of which are related to medical negligence on the part of the acting physician. Cerebral Palsy is one such severe outcome. When medical personnel fail to provide adequate care to a mother and child during labor and delivery, they may be held legally responsible for any injuries or disabilities that occur as a result. Should medical personnel fail to respond to complications associated with any of the above conditions, such as bleeding or fetal distress, an innocent child may suffer serious injury or even death.
Attorney Jeffrey Killino is not only an experienced lawyer, but a child advocate. When a child injury occurs, whether caused by negligence or a defective product, he has the know-how and resources to guide you through the legal process to get what you and your family are entitled to. If your son, daughter or children have suffered an injury, contact child injury attorney Jeffrey Killino today at 877-875-2927.
