Posts tagged "child injuries"

Even as the weather gets colder, there are plenty of fun outdoor activities for families in the late autumn months. One traditional favorite is a hay ride, which typically carries groups of people on carts or wagons pulled by horses or a tractor. Hay rides are great for families because they give children and adults a beautiful view of the country, and are typically very safe.

Of course, the safety depends heavily on the operator of the ride. A group of more than two dozen people in Sandusky, Ohio, who assumed they were in for some fun instead became injured when the man driving their hay ride tractor got into an accident last October.

We often discuss the importance of being aware of your surroundings while driving. This is true whether you're behind the wheel of a giant tractor-trailer or a comparatively tiny hybrid vehicle. Not only should drivers regularly scan the traffic around them to avoid collisions, but they should make sure their vehicles are in good working order and free from any defects that could affect other people. If you're carrying a load of items in the bed of your pickup truck, you must ensure that it's properly tied down. If your rapidly rusting muffler is in danger of falling off your car, you should either secure it or replace it.

Failure to secure your own vehicle or anything it's carrying can be just as dangerous as losing control behind the wheel. Chances are good that you won't notice that a piece of luggage strapped to your roof or a load of lumber in your truck has come undone until it's too late. Once it leaves your vehicle, the drivers and passengers around you are instantly put at risk of an accident like the one that happened just over the Ohio border earlier this week.

Many parents who send their children to preschool rely on their school's transportation options, including school buses and vans. Although it can be a bit scary waving goodbye to their little ones for the first time, most parents are happy to avoid the extra hassle of a pickup and drop-off every day on their way to and from work. And in the case of preschool programs that benefit low-income families, such as Head Start, that transportation is even more valuable, especially for families who don't own a car.

All parents who rely on this bus transportation presume that their children will be kept safe from harm as they travel to and from school. But a recent accident in the Cincinnati area has left two children dead, others injured and the victims' families at a complete loss.

A Cincinnati family is in mourning after a crash that killed one of their three young children. The car accident, believed to have been caused by a driver under the influence, points to the vulnerability of not just children, but any pedestrian unfortunate enough to come into contact with a car.

The 3-year-old boy was walking with his mother and 5-year-old brother early Monday morning in the Westwood neighborhood of the city. The mother was pushing her youngest child, a 1-year-old boy, in a stroller. According to police, the family was on their way to a baby sitter, who would take care of the children while their mother was at work. Because it was just after 4 a.m., the sky was still dark as they traveled the sidewalk along McHenry Avenue.

Many parents in Ohio and around the United States are recognizing National Child Passenger Safety Week this week. It's an all important safety-awareness week for parents considering that, according to the Safety Administration, car crashes are the number one killer of children under the age of 12 years old.

According to research provided for a safety week statement, child safety seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent in infants and 54 percent in toddlers. This statistic brings up a very important question for parents: is your child in the right car seat?

Do Ohio parents and child caregivers lack knowledge about traffic laws or are they just getting lax about safety? The American Journal of Preventive Medicine recently published a study that said while proper use of child safety seats reduces toddler fatalities by an estimated 54 percent and infant deaths by more than 70 percent, too often safety seats are not used properly or are installed incorrectly, leading to more child injuries and deaths.

Traffic accidents cause nearly 180,000 child injuries each year, according to federal health officials. Car accidents are the biggest death risk for children ages 3 and older. The AJPM study included research on more than 21,000 children. Researchers performed on-site studies and driver interviews where children in vehicles were most likely to be -- restaurants, gas stations and day care facilities. The data was matched against a national survey of booster seat use created by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Families often make checklists before leaving on summer vacation. One of the most important is a "safety checklist" to keep children safe while traveling. A checklist like this can prevent child injuries and car accidents, and make your summer vacation more fun.

For instance, always make sure every child is properly buckled in a seat belt before the car is in motion. No small child should ever ride in the front seat. If an air bag deploys, it can severely injure or even kill a small child. Also, make sure that all car seats are properly installed.

Although car accidents involving pedestrians are almost always serious, the risk of critical injuries is even higher when the victim is a child. Children are smaller and they may not be able to avoid an oncoming car as easily, and in the case of very young children, they may not remember to look both ways before crossing a street. Regardless of the child's age, however, it's important to keep in mind that in a serious accident, the boy or girl injured is not to blame and it's the duty of the driver involved to stop and render aid.

Unfortunately, a driver failed to live up to this duty in an accident that happened one night last month in southwestern Ohio. A 14-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was hit by an SUV in Scioto County. But instead of stopping to help the boy, the driver left the scene.

In May Ohio legislators passed House Bill 14, which stripped the automatic "dangerous dog" label from pit bulls and pit bull mixes. The new law was good news for owners of the breed, who no longer have to keep their dogs on chain-linked leashes or muzzle them when taking them off their own property. It also meant fewer euthanizations at animal shelters, which weren't able to adopt out the dogs as easily as other breeds.

But the new law doesn't signal the end of dog bites, by pit bulls or any other breed. Child injuries can still result from a dog attack or a single bite, and they can be devastating experiences. But a good first step to prevention is educating your children on how to behave around a dog, especially one they don't know.

Medical negligence and problems in the womb with fetal development can lead to severe problems at birth. In the most serious cases, a child can be born with such extreme disabilities that they require lifetime medical and nursing care and may suffer constantly. Some parents, in Ohio and other states, have filed "wrongful birth" lawsuits, seeking damages for their child's condition.

Ohio's Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that parents who file lawsuits for wrongful birth negligence are limited in the damages they can seek. Recently, a number of states have considered enacting laws that would bar lawsuits against doctors who do not tell parents about problems a fetus in the womb is having and the risk of birth injuries. Advocates of abortion rights have criticized these proposals, noting that the motivation seems to be to deny pregnant women access to information that could lead some of them to make the decision to have an abortion in cases where the birth of a child would result in a lifetime filled with pain and debilitating disability.

You don't have to be the parent of a young child to know how much babies, toddlers and preschoolers love to put things in their mouths. It's one of the many ways they explore objects that are new to them. But as we all know, this developmental habit can be dangerous and cause serious injuries, depending on what the object is.

One increasing risk comes in the form of small "button" style batteries, which can be found all over the typical American household and are used to power toys, remote controls, hearing aids and other small devices. Use of these batteries is on the rise, and according to a U.S. study, the number of emergency room visits by children who have swallowed them has doubled in the past two decades. More than 65,000 children under age 18 had a battery-related emergency between 1990 and 2009.

The tragic death of a 3-day-old infant was reported last week, just days before a related Ohio law was set to go into effect. The timing of the child's death could cause some to question whether House Bill 14, which removed any specific references to pit bulls in the state's existing "vicious dog" law, was premature.

The baby had just been placed in a swing at her grandmother's house near Lima, Ohio, while her mother prepared to feed her. The girl's mother and grandmother were just a few feet away in the kitchen when the family pit bull attacked the newborn. They rushed her to a nearby hospital; she was then flown to a hospital in Toledo, where she died late that night. The dog was taken into custody by the Allen County, Ohio, dog warden, who couldn't immediately say whether the dog was a purebred pit bull, but said the 4-year-old male was at least a pit bull mix.

Summer's almost here, and with it come all sorts of toys for kids and adults to play with. In addition to all the bubbles, bikes and beach toys this season has to offer, many of the toys are meant to be enjoyed in or near the pool. But one toy has recently been recalled because it poses a high risk of child injuries. In fact, it's already caused some severe injuries and even a death.

Like a lot of other recalled toys, the Banzai Splash in-ground pool slide looks like a lot of fun. It has a fairly tall ladder and a steep slide that's intended to be set up next to an in-ground pool; by connecting a garden hose to the top of it, water can be sprayed down the slope. But according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it's also very unstable and can topple over sideways, even in non-windy conditions.

Parents in Ohio and nationwide know that child safety seats are essential to protecting their kids from possible injury or death in car accidents. Yet many have also complained that installing the safety seats in a vehicle can be very difficult.

New research seems to vindicate those complaints, showing that a small minority, 21 of 98, of the best-selling car models produced in the last two years designed their seats in a manner that make it simple to install the safety seats needed to prevent child injuries.

A brand of bicycle seat designed to carry babies and small children has been recalled after two children suffered serious injuries to their fingers, one involving amputation. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported the recall of the Topeak Babyseat II, which has grab bars that when lifted to remove the children, can cause fingertips to get caught in the hinge mechanism. One of the injuries required stitches and the other involved a crushed finger.

Products that cause serious injuries to children are not all that rare, unfortunately. And the injuries often aren't as horrific as some of those that cause harm to adults. But because children are small, vulnerable and usually don't or can't read warning labels, we hear more about products that cause their injuries. On the upside, such recalls generally lead to safer products.

Weeks have passed since a 3-year-old boy was fatally struck by a car in Cincinnati, Ohio, yet police have still not been able to find the driver responsible for causing the child's injuries.

Police did locate a Chevy Impala that appeared to match the one involved in the crash, but there's been no word this week on whether it was indeed the same car, and no one has been arrested or charged in the accident. As authorities continue to search for the culprit, the boy's parents are grieving over a shrine that's been building outside their house, complete with stuffed animals, balloons and the boy's favorite snacks.

It's a good practice for drivers to always be on the lookout for pedestrians who might be crossing in front of them, but especially children, who are more apt to run into traffic and may not be visible behind parked cars.

A fourth-grade Cincinnati girl was struck and killed by a car this week on her way to school, according to police. The girl was with a group of students near a bus stop when she was hit. Police said she ran out into traffic to talk to a friend standing on the other side of the street. The driver of the minivan that struck her stopped and police are currently investigating who, if anyone, is at fault.

In the past we've discussed the case of Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State coach at the center of a child sex abuse scandal that has raised alarms across the country and gotten more people to talk about an issue that's not comfortable for anyone.

Child injuries, whether physical or emotional, may be the product of child sex abuse, according to a child psychologist. The psychologist stated that kids can "relive" the abuse, which is often reflected in their actions. For example, they might begin to fear things that remind them of the abuse or the abuser, or may develop an aversion to any kind of close contact. The psychologist stated that parents should talk to their children if they suspect abuse.

Dog bites are one of the many different causes of child injuries. Some dog breeds have a worse reputation than others, to the point that some are labeled as "vicious" regardless of an individual dog's history and training. But a bill passed by the Ohio Senate this week may level the playing field.

Under current law, pit bulls are the only dogs that are immediately classified as vicious, thanks to a law passed in 1987 but weakened in 2004 by a state Supreme Court ruling. The high court found that the law failed to provide due process -- that is, the right to a hearing -- for other dog owners, which often discouraged animal control officers from issuing a citation for a first infraction. According to the director of the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center (who was part of a group involved in rewriting the bill), with the exception of pit bulls, "your dog had one free bite."

If you're the parent of a young child, you've probably heard all the warnings and laws about child safety restraints. Chances are good that you strap your little one into a car seat that's attached to the back seat of your vehicle. But what about when your child is riding in a different car, such as that of a relative or friend? Do you take all of the same measures, even if the driver ordinarily wouldn't?

Car accidents remain a primary source of child injuries and deaths. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Using a child safety seat reduces the risk of injury or death by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.