Fisher Price Recalls 800K Infant Sleepers Fearing Mold May Cause Infants Injury

As a parent, there are a variety of items that seem like life savers when your child is being fussy or difficult.  One such item is the Fisher- Price Newborn Rock N' Play Sleeper, which many parents describe as the only thing that helped them get their child to sleep.  Those days of blissfully sleeping through the night may be a distant memory for parents because today the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled the item, warning parents to inspect the estimated 800,000 sleepers sold since September 2009. 

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Fisher- Price Newborn Rock N' Play Sleeper carried risk of mold exposure for infants.  Between the removable seat cushion and the hard plastic frame, mold could grow and flourish.  Fisher- Price reports that they have received 600 reports of mold.  Additionally, 16 infants had been treated for respiratory reactions. Could mold cause severe injury for your child? 

The Dangers of Mold Exposure 

Mold sounds pretty harmless, but it can be extremely dangerous to people when they've been exposed to it over time.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people exposed to mold could experience the following reactions and injuries:

• shortness of breath
• lung infections
• hives, skin rashes
• memory problems
• headaches, migraines
• swollen glands in your neck
• open sores on your skin
• hair loss
• asthma and other breathing disorders
• ear infections
• fatigue
• nausea, vomiting

These are common injuries that adults experience. Now picture your infant being exposed to mold over prolonged periods of time.  This could be extremely serious for a child who has not yet developed an immune system capable of fighting the ill effects of mold exposure. Could you live with injuring your child on a constant basis?

If Your Child Has Been Injured

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is taking steps jointly with Fisher- Price to warn parents that they could be exposing their child to mold.  They are asking parents to inspect their sleepers to guard against injury.  However, if your child has suffered severe injuries you suspect are the result of exposure to mold in this product, you may want to seek out the advice of a skilled product liability attorney.  By contacting a skilled product liability attorney, you can find out whether your child's injuries may qualify you for compensation.  Call a skilled product liability attorney today to discuss your case and how to help restore your child's good health. 

Baby Tents Recalled for Suffocation Risk

It's always sad when a child dies of a preventable accident, but now baby tents are being recalled for several infant deaths due to suffocation.  Approximately 220,000 pea pod tents are being recalled after reports of 6 infant deaths by suffocation.  Parents told the Consumer Product Safety Agency that children have become trapped between the tents' sides and the inflatable mattress bottom.

The Consumer Product Agency and other industry watchdogs have long advocated that portable sleepers are not an adequate replacement for a proper crib.  There are many dangers to infants in sleeping situations where they could become entangled or trapped.

How are Infants at Risk

The National Institute of Health conducted a study in 2003 examining suffocation risks to infants.  The agency found that when infants slept in beds and on surfaces that were not adequately designed for infants, there could be as much as a 20 fold risk of suffocation. 

The following factors increase risk of suffocation in infants:

• excessive heating or cooling the child in bed, causing the child to kick at the covers and become trapped in the bedding
• loose sheets, blankets, covers which could tangle around the baby
• parental co-sleeping arrangements where a parent could roll over onto a child
• the baby getting trapped between bedding, small spaces between bedding and walls of a bed/ tent/ crib
• heavy blankets which could choke or asphyxiate a child
• loose ropes, cords, braids, and ribbons which could strangle a child
• small objects within reach of the child which they could choke on

If Your Child Has Suffocated

The loss of a child is heartbreaking and awful.  If your child has suffocated due to a potentially unsafe product, you could be entitled to compensation for your loss. You should contact a skilled personal injury and product liability attorney to preserve your rights and give you the help that you need.

Protect Your Child from Overdoses: National Pharmaceutical Take Back Day

KIDS USE YOUR OLD PRESCRIPTIONS

Parents have a lot to worry about these days.  The media is full of stories of children whose lives have gone astray.  And watchful parents try their best to protect their children from illicit substances and bad influences.  There’s a lot to keep a parent up at night.  Will your child succumb to peer pressure and drink at parties? Will they be exposed to illegal drugs on the playground? Will they become an addict? 

What if your child thought he didn’t need to do that because your own prescription drugs were so easily available?  The Partnership for a Drug Free America reports, “The number one source of drugs that teenagers abuse is their own home medicine cabinet.  Kids tell us in surveys that there is enough supply at home, at grandma's house; that they don't have to buy them."

The Partnership for a Drug Free America estimates there’s approximately 200 pounds of unused medications gathering dust in medicine cabinets.  In 2011, roughly 1.7 million youths admitted to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that they took prescription pills out of their family members’ medicine cabinets.   This represents a reduction by nearly 300,000. 

"These findings show that national efforts to address the problem of prescription drug misuse may be beginning to bear fruit and we must continue to apply this pressure to drive down this and other forms of substance use," SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde said in an agency news release.

NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL TAKE BACK DAY- TURN IN YOUR OLD MEDICATIONS

To support these campaigns against prescription drug abuse, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has scheduled a National Pharmaceutical “Take Back Day.”  On September 29, 2012 from 10am- 2pm you’ll be able to drop off these old prescriptions at a local center. To find a local prescription drop off center, call 800-882-9539. 

By turning in your old medications, you could potentially be saving the life of your child.  Often, we don’t think about what’s really lurking in our medicine cabinet.  Oxycodone from your ankle repair surgery, Vicodin from last year’s dental work, Percocet left over from your elective surgery… It could all be in there. Clean out your medicine cabinet today so you can protect your children from accidental overdoses.

If your child overdoses on medications, seek help immediately.  But if you find that you’d like to consult an attorney to review your legal options, we’re here for you.