Every year, almost 900 children under the age of 14 pass away as a result of airway obstruction injuries. Strangulation, choking, and related injuries are the leading causes of unintentional death in infants. Younger children, especially those under the age of four, are at a higher risk of suffering a choking or strangulation injury than older ones.
If your child has suffered death or injury through strangulation, you may be able to obtain compensation in legal damages from the party or parties responsible. Call child strangulation-injury lawyer Jeffrey Killino today at 877-875-2927 to learn about your legal options.
Studies and Warnings by the Consumer Product Safety Commission
According to studies conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), strangulation deaths in children occur primarily in children under the age of three, although many older children are also among these sad statistics. The CPSC has warned of the strangulation hazards posed by toy straps, necklaces, and window-cords and urges parents and caregivers to take serious precautions against these dangers.
CPSC studies have indicated that strangulation from window cords, in particular, often happens when parents believe their children are safely settled in their cribs. These parents may forget or fail to notice that a child’s crib is placed close enough to a window to allow the child access to a window cord. Children often wake in their cribs and begin to play with whatever they find available. A window-cord “toy” can be a deadly choice, indeed.
In 2012, more than 450,000 BlindXpress Window Blinds were recalled after a two-year-old died from strangling on a window-blind cord. In February of 2014, a six-year-old girl died in a similar incident.
Causes of Child Strangulation
In addition to window cords and toy straps, a number of other objects pose strangulation hazards to children. When youngsters are inadequately supervised, they may easily and quickly fall victim to a strangulation injury from one of these items, which include the following:
- Swing sets
- Drawstrings on clothing
- Ribbons
- Necklaces and other long jewelry
- Cribs
- Strings on crib bumpers
Obtain Compensation from Parties Responsible for Your Child’s Strangulation Injury or Death
Supervisors, such as babysitters or childcare workers, have the responsibility of ensuring that very young children are kept well away from long, rope-like items, that blind and drape pulls are tucked out of reach, and that children are supervised when playing. Crib manufacturers may also be held liable for any injuries sustained as a result of their defective products.
- Defective-product law
When a product such as a crib bumper or toy contains a defect in manufacture or design and that defect is a cause of a strangulation injury sustained by a child, the manufacturer, designer, retailer, and advertiser may be held liable for the damages incurred as a result of the injuries your child sustained.
Such parties are legally responsible for injuries caused by their defective products even when the party injured is not the one who purchased the product. Thus, if your child is strangled on a crib-bumper string or window cord while in a daycare facility or someone else’s home, the manufacturer and anyone in the chain of distribution may be found liable for your child’s injury.
Even when children survive a strangulation accident, their injuries may be severe. Asphyxiation may have occurred, resulting in brain damage and permanent disability. Those responsible for your child’s pain and suffering and past and lifelong damages may be held liable for the associated costs.
- Wrongful death
The fact that strangulation generally happens “silently” is one of the greatest dangers associated with strangulation hazards. Children may become caught on a cord or string and be unable to cry out, resulting in death before anything can be done.
If your child has died as a result of a strangulation hazard, you may be entitled to bring a wrongful death action against the manufacturer and others in the chain of a defective product’s distribution. You may also be entitled to bring such an action against anyone whose negligence resulted in your child’s access to the item that caused your child’s death.
Wrongful death actions are brought by survivors of a decedent, on the decedent’s behalf. The damages recoverable are, therefore, the damages your child could have recovered if he or she had survived.
Such damage recoveries can be quite extensive. Most children have a long life expectancy, during which he or she may have earned income and taken part in the most enjoyable aspects of life. On behalf of your child, you may be able to recover what he or she has been deprived of due to a defective product or someone else’s negligence.
Contact Us
If your child has suffered a strangulation injury, you may be entitled to compensation from the party or parties responsible for this needless harm. Contact child strangulation-injury lawyer Jeffrey Killino today at 877-875-2927 to learn more about your legal options.
