To reduce child drownings, New York legislators are debating a law that would require homeowner installed alarms that would sound whenever someone enters an untended pool.
The NY Times article on the debate includes the following sobering statistics:
In a nation of 8.6 million pools and 5.6 million hot tubs, according to industry estimates, every summer seems to have a spate of drownings. State and federal health agencies reported that about 260 children younger than 5 died underwater in 2006, including 2-year-old Shaan Pathak of Hicksville; Jolie Annecco, also 2, who lived in Lindenwood, Queens; and Isha and Ahmad Faniel, 4-year-old twins from Union, N.J.
A 2003 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated that for each drowning, up to four more children suffer near-drownings serious enough to require hospitalizations, many resulting in permanent disability.
Year in and year out, drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for children under 14, behind traffic fatalities, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. For children under 5, pools account for far more drownings than bathtubs and natural bodies of water, according to the National Safety Council and the National Center for Health Statistics.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to the negligence of another, please call Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the contact form on this site. Your first consultation is free and we handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
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