According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 18 percent of all emergency hospital visits relating to traumatic brain injuries involved children aged 0 to 4 years. Brain injury is the most frequent cause of death and disability among children in the United States. Nearly 1 million children suffer brain injuries each year and about 165,000 require hospitalization.

Traumatic brain injuries occur as a result of a sudden, violent blow to the head. Child brain injuries, are extremely common in Massachusetts and the rest of the United States. Regardless of how they are caused, the effects of brain injuries can be permanent and lead to a lifetime of special needs, medical care and continuing rehabilitation.

Among teenagers, the most common cause of brain injury is auto accidents. Among younger children, especially those under 4 years of age, falls are the most common cause for traumatic brain injuries. Sports-related injuries, where children are hit by a bat or ball or football-related head injuries can also result in brain damage. Adolescents and young adults are also at risk for assault-related brain injuries including those caused by a firearm. Child brain injuries can also be birth injuries that result from medical negligence during labor and delivery. (more…)

Riding a bike is one of the kids’ favorite activities in spring. However, collisions with motor vehicles account for nearly 90% of all bicycle-related deaths, and 10% of all non-fatal injuries in the United States.

Besides teaching their children how to ride bikes, parents should also brush up on how to keep their children safe while riding bikes.

1. Wearing a helmet: Parents should teach their children to always wear a bicycle helmet. Furthermore, the child’s helmet must be the appropriate size and shape and fit CPSC’s safety standards.
2. Riding the Right Bike: A child’s bike needs to be the right size so children can ride it safely.
3. Road Rules and Traffic Laws: Parents should go over the basic road rules and traffic laws with their children before going on a ride. Kids need to remember things like:

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Bicycle accidents involving children can sometimes lead to serious head injuries, and even death. Bike accident statistics show that a person riding a bike without a helmet is 14 times more likely to be involved in a fatal bicycle accident than bicyclists with helmets. Also, an estimated 45-88% of the brain injuries caused by bicycle accidents could have been avoided if the bike rider wore a helmet.

Common sense tells us that the best way to protect a child from head trauma is educate them on the importance of always wearing a helmet.

However, what are the consequences of wearing a defective bike helmet? While bike helmets are designed to protect the head from heavy impact, sometimes helmet manufacturers do make mistakes, and bike recalls do exist.

Risk of Injury From a Defective Bicycle Helmet

A defective bike helmet can pose a significant risk to your child in the event of a bicycle accident since it fails to provide protection in one or more of the following ways:

- Insufficient protection by the hard outer shell of the helmet.
- A soft, inner padding that fails to cushion the skull and brain from injury.
- Overall failure to protect the brain from moving abruptly inside the skull.

Some of the injuries that can result from defective bike helmets include brain trauma, fractures to the skull and face, concussions, and death.

Seeking Legal Advice Concerning Your Child’s Injuries Due to a Defective Helmet

A traumatic injury to your child stemming from the use of a defective helmet in a bicycle accident may have lifelong consequences for your child and the rest of your family. You child may suffer life-altering brain damage and disabilities, which will put an extra emotional and financial burden on the entire family.

If a helmet manufacturer is liable for your child’s head injury in Massachusetts, you may be entitled to bring a lawsuit against them. To find out about your legal options, it is best to consult with a Boston child injury lawyer today.

It is important that the lawyer you choose has a previous experience of successfully handling defective products cases and understands the intricacies of child injuries caused by bicycle accidents, particularly regarding bike helmets usage.

Call 800-410-2769 to speak with a Boston personal injury lawyer today. Free Consultations.

If your child was injured in an accident, you may be asking yourself: Do I have a legal claim?

A legal claim exists when your child is entitled to financial compensation for injuries and/or damages resulting from the accident. Two major contributing factors to filing a claim are the determination of negligence and the scope of expenses and damages. In short, does a negligence exist, and are your child’s injury related costs great enough to warrant a claim? (more…)

A Chandler accident almost cost the life of a child when he nearly drowned at a neighborhood lake Wednesday afternoon (AZ Central 01/12/2011). Investigations are still ongoing as to how the 14 month old child got into the lake in the area of Dobson and Chandler Heights, but responding rescuers said they were able to pull him out around 12:45 p.m.

The authorities further confirmed that the boy was breathing and was transported to a local hospital for proper treatment.

Children of young ages are very much prone to accidents such as drowning. According to Safekids.org, from research spanning from 1987 to 2004, child injuries by motor vehicle crashes is the most common cause of unintentional injury deaths among children aged 14 and below – the second is drowning.

Where there is water there is risk. Parents and accompanying adults must safeguard children from drowning. To protect your loved ones from such accidents, here are few safety tips that you should take note of:

• Never leave a child in the care of older children during bath time. Make sure your child is within an arm’s reach in pools, the bathtub, or places where drowning can occur.
• Keep bathroom and laundry room doors shut.
• Learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be a life saver.
• Lastly, supervise your child at all times when in swimming pools or other bodies of water even if he or she knows how to swim.

If your child has been in a drowning accident, don’t hesitate to call us at (480) 753-4534 for a free consultation. As Chandler accident lawyers, we have been helping victims of child injuries get the compensation that they deserve.

According to a study by the Insurance Research Council (IRC), injured people who used lawyers in their personal injury claims received more money that injured victims without lawyers.

Furthermore, these results were calculated AFTER the lawyer fees were paid.

So, why would you have any doubts about using an attorney to fight for your personal injury claim?
Insurance adjustors would like nothing best than to push you into proceeding with your claim, because they know chances are they will have to pay you more money if you are without a lawyer. Don’t let anyone push you into accepting a settlement proposed by the insurance company if you feel you are entitled to an attorney.

In some cases, if you are not injured or have minor injuries and if your vehicle sustained little to no damage, it may not be cost-effective to hire an attorney to settle your claim. You might want to check with a professional to see if your case is worth pursuing with legal help. That is the best Massachusetts personal injury law firms, like the Kiley law Group, offer Free Legal Consultations to any injured victim in a Massachusetts auto accident. (more…)

If you have a flat screen TV and have been putting off securing it to a console, do it today! The Journal of Clinical Pediatrics published startling statistics provided by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio concerning child injuries and these large top-heavy TVs.

The increase in this type of child injury is directly related to an increase in the number of   households who own flat panel televisions and many owners eagerness to begin enjoying them – delaying the task of properly securing them on a substantial base.

• Injuries are up by 41% since 1990
• 75% of children who are injured are under 6 years of age
• 17,000 children were treated in emergency rooms in 2007  related to falling or unstable furniture (most for head and neck injuries)
• Falling TVs accounted for almost half of these injuries
• Injuries occurred from failure to secure TVs to a console (none in the study were secured)

Check your flat panel televisions for instructions on how to secure them. Young children are not aware of the dangers of climbing on furniture, or the risk of child accident injuries. The narrow bases that hold these televisions make them very top heavy and unstable. Perform a safety- check around your home and see what potential dangers lurk at your child’s level.

Let’s keep our kids safe!