Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Over a Million Infants Injured Each Year in the U.S.
If you think that your child has been abused, contact the Boston child injury attorneys at Kiley Law Group at 1-888-208-1695 for a FREE legal evaluation of your case.
Always FREE CONSULTATIONS for child victims and their families.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an injured infant enters an emergency room every 90 seconds in the United States.
The majority of these injuries are accidental, but sometimes a relative, babysitter, day care worker or other caregiver are to blame for an infant's injuries.
- A national surveillance system supported by the CDC and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that approximately 1.3 million infants suffer nonfatal, accidental injuries that are severe enough to send them to the emergency room.
- Falls are the most common cause of infant injury and account for more than 50% of cases involving injured children. It has been estimated that 170,000 infant injuries are caused by falls each year. When a child is under the age of 12 months, beds are the most common factor in fall accidents, as infants can fall, roll or slide off of them.
- Car seats and infant walkers have even been linked to falls among infants.
- Stroller-related injuries are also common among children ages 2 to 4 months.
- Some of the other leading causes of infant injury include being struck or crushed by an object, person or animal, which accounts for more than 44,000 injuries annually.
- Burn injuries among infants are also common, as there are more than 17,000 of these injuries every year.
There are also other causes of serious injury and even death of infants, which include drowning, suffocation, car accidents, foreign-body injuries and burns.
Caregivers should do everything possible to ensure the safety of an infant and to do what is necessary to provide a danger-free environment.
Infants are sometimes the victims of child abuse, which can result in injuries and death. Relatives, caregivers, day care workers and babysitters have been known to inflict harm on young children. For example, there have been situations where a babysitter shakes a baby so hard that it results in shaken baby syndrome, which can cause serious brain damage. Some children are even the victims of child abuse through their church. People who participate in child abuse can be held responsible for their actions.
Child injuries are extremely delicate – you must consider the well-being and prognosis of the child as well as future medical bills and related costs associated with an accident. A child may require financial support, psychological counseling, and physical rehabilitation long after the trauma from an accident or abuse has subsided.
To find out if your child’s injuries were caused by someone else’s negligence and if you have the right to seek compensation for these injuries, contact the Boston personal injury attorneys at Kiley Law Group.
