Button Batteries Can Be Fatal to Children When Ingested
During the initial stages of life, young children are naturally curious, and will often place any objects that are within reach in their mouths. Children learn and develop through sensorimotor play when they discover and play with objects. They engage all five senses by grasping, tasting, chewing, sucking, reaching, handling, shacking, looking and smelling objects. A child having tasted something enjoyable might reach for an object of similar size, shape or color hoping it will produce the same enjoyable taste. During this early stage children must be protected from dangerous products, objects, or items that present the risk of choking like button batteries.
Batteries can be a serious choking and/or poison hazard. According to Kids Safe Worldwide, in 2013, poison control centers reported close to 2,800 cases of children ages 19 and under swallowing button batteries, and three children under the age of six dying as a result of swallowing batteries.
Button Batteries
Button batteries pose a very specific hazard to children. They are involved in over 80 percent of all battery-related emergency room visits—but what are they? These batteries are single-cell batteries shaped as cylinders and used in watches, cardiac pacemakers, pocket calculators, and hearing aids. In just a few minutes, ingesting a button battery can do irreparable damage to a child, most often to the esophagus. If it gets stuck in a child’s throat, the saliva can trigger an electrical current which actually leads to a chemical reaction and a burning of the esophagus. In fact, these batteries are such a serious issue that the number of severe injuries and deaths they have caused has increased more than nine-fold, just in the last decade.
Avoid Negligence
Anyone who works in a child caretaker position or who is otherwise in the position of supervising young children in other contexts (for example, at a birthday party) has to take special precautions to ensure that children do not swallow batteries. This includes ensuring that they aren’t available in any low lying areas, such as on the floor, as well as lurking in staffers’ or others’ pockets, and making sure that adults not only provide careful supervision of young children in these circumstances, but that they also know CPR in case it is necessary.
Products Liability
When parents purchase products like batteries, they assume that they are safe to be used as intended. If they are defective, product liability law allows individuals to bring a claim to recover compensation as a result of any harm.
If your child was injured or killed in choking on a battery there is a chance that the incident was the result of a defective product, a missing warning label, or the negligence of a caregiver. You have the right to hold whomever is responsible for what happened. Our child injury attorneys can help; for decades, The Law Offices of Gerald J. Noonan have been helping families obtain justice as a result of these incidents. We are experienced in handling child injury claims, and we are prepared to help you. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Button Battery Choking Accident, Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Lawyers
Experienced Boston Area Personal Injury Attorneys – Initial Consultations Are Always Free – No Fee Unless We Recover For You
If your child has been harmed or killed as a result of choking on a button battery due to someone else’s negligence, you have a legal claim for damages against responsible party. The personal injury attorneys at The Law Offices of Gerald J. Noonan have decades of combined experience obtaining compensation on behalf of families whose children have suffered as the result of someone else’s negligence. Our knowledgeable Boston lawyers are here to provide you with a free consultation and help you get going.
No matter where you are located, we are just a phone call away. Call our law offices today to schedule a free no-obligation case review and consultation at (508) 588-0422 or click the link below to use our Free Case Evaluation Form.
Our personal injury lawyers assist accident victims throughout all of Southeast Massachusetts, including but not limited to Brockton, Taunton, Bridgewater, Easton, Norton, Randolph, Holbrock, Abington, Hingham, Fall River, Dorchester, Quincy, Stoughton, Plymouth, Raynham, Mansfield, Avon, Canton, Marshfield, Attleboro, Braintree, Rockland, Hanover, Duxbury, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, Middleborough, New Bedford, and all smaller cities and rural areas in Southern Massachusetts. We also serve the counties of Plymouth, Norfolk, Bristol, Massachusetts.
