Or, maybe one similar to this one?

There are big ones and small ones, but all have these crooked wires and wooden beads.

Maybe there’s one in your child’s daycare facility — in someone’s home or in a school setting. I have seen these types of toys in waiting rooms — my dentist has had one in his waiting room for years. I even considered putting one in my waiting room for the children who come to my office.

However, I have changed my mind after reading of the tragic death in Denver, Colorado, of a 17-month old in a home daycare facility. He was left alone (the coroner says for longer than one minute) and was not breathing when he was found by the daycare provider. The autopsy revealed ligature marks (bruises left by binding) on the child’s neck and chest.

There were five children in the Denver home daycare facility. It was a licensed facility. But someone wasn’t watching this little boy.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission was notified of the incident and asked to investigate the safety of these types of toys. But, don’t wait. Add this to your list of unacceptable toys at your child’s daycare facility. If you see one, ask that it be removed immediately.

The headline grabbed my attention because of the recent outright ban on drop-side cribs that came down after a unanimous vote of the board of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although I was pleased with the ban, I was frustrated that it had taken so long — years and years after reports first came in about babies dying and suffering severe injuries after being strangled because of the failure of the movable parts of the side of the crib.

The author of the article, Peter R. Lewis, is a professor of forensic engineering at The Open University in Milton Keynes, England. Although he doesn’t mention recalls of drop side cribs in his article, he does mention other product failures that have gotten widespread press coverage, the most recent of which were the Deepwater Horizon oil spill fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico and the Toyota accelerator problem last year.

Engineers have a responsibility to design safe and reliable products and to test the prototypes in realistic conditions. Often that responsibility is put in the back seat by decisions of corporate executives to cut corners and save money during the design and testing of products.

Mr. Lewis lists these problems with the manufacture of many of the products that have failed:

• Poor product design

• Failing to test products under realistic conditions

• Speeding through testing steps to get the product in use as soon as possible

• Ignoring early warning signs of failure of a product in use

Proper design and testing of products, early investigation of problems when they begin to appear and prompt action to remedy the defect or remove the product from the stream of commerce, will save countless lives and, in the end, be more cost effective for those corporations that cut corners in the first place in a misguided effort to improve their bottom lines.

Obviously, the current answer to the question posed in the subheading of the article is, unfortunately, “No”.

The ban also prohibits the use of drop-side cribs in hotels, motels and child-care facilities.

The new rules will not take effect for several months and there are still millions of dangerous drop-side cribs in use all over the country. If you have a drop-side crib, the CPSC recommends you test it to be sure it is assembled correctly and that its hardware is secure. Personally, I would go buy a new crib without drop sides. Your baby sleeps in that crib every day. You want to sleep soundly, too.

If your baby goes to a child-care facility, check the cribs in use there. Take your baby elsewhere if the facility has cribs that have been recalled or that are not secure.

If you leave your baby in a nursery at your place of worship, check the cribs.

If you travel and use a crib at a hotel or motel, check the crib.

A representative of the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association, which represents over 90% of the manufacturers of juvenile products,  says that most of the drop-side cribs that have been assembled properly and that have not been recalled can be used safely.Notice he didn’t say all the cribs that were assembled properly and not recalled were safe.

It will be  many months before these dangerous drop-side cribs are completely out of circulation. A recall — even a ban — does not mean they immediately, automatically disappear.

If your baby has been injured by a defective drop-side crib, you should speak to a lawyer who is experienced in handling defective products cases. Give me a call at 703-260-6070, or email me at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com. I can help you find the right lawyer.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Britax voluntarily recalled its Chaperone infant car seats. About 23,000 have been sold throughout the U.S. at retailers and on the Britax website for about $230. They were manufactured between April 2009 and May 2010, so there are plenty of new car seats out there.

Britax Chaperone car seat

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also recalled the car seat.

The harness chest clip is defective. It can break and poses  laceration and choking hazards. Laceration injuries have been reported, and one infant was found to have put the broken clip in his mouth.

The above picture to find out where the serial number on your car seat is. Here are the model numbers of the recalled car seats:

E9L69N9 (Moonstone)

E9L69P2 (Red Mill)

E9L69P3 (Savannah)

E9L69P5 (Cowmooflage)

If you have one of these car seats, immediately contact Britax for a free repair kit (that includes a replacement chest clip): www.Britax.com or call 888-427-4829.

By the way, although it is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product, people put recalled items in for sale yard sales and Craigslist. Beware when buying second hand products for your child.

Did you know that rubber breaks down over time, regardless of whether a tire has actually being used on a motor vehicle? Did you also know that, regardless of how old a tire is, and tire sellers can legitimately sell them as new?

Tire experts advise that “new” tires that are five or six years old are unsafe and should not be sold. Unfortunately, buyers are not told how old the tires are, and they can unknowingly put their families in grave danger. Some sellers even assure buyers that the old tires they are selling are absolutely safe!

The manufacture date on the tire sidewall is written in code. Why would the manufacturer hide the date the tire was manufactured? Here is an article about how to decipher the code on the tire sidewall. See if you can figure it out so you’ll know how old that supposedly new tire is.

Protecting your family while on the road is a huge concern. Even when you keep your car well maintained, travel the speed limit and take care to stay out of the way of other drivers, those new tires you just put on your car could have made your car more dangerous than it was before you bought the “new” tires. Nevertheless, the Rubber Manufacturers Association opposes legislation that would require them to put an expiration date on tires. They don’t want to lose the money they would make from the sale of old tires sold as new if they had to disclose that information.

Just think how much safer our children would be if we knew when a supposedly new tire was manufactured.

If you or a family member has been injured in a wreck caused by an old tire you thought was new, contact an experienced child injury lawyer. You ought to know if you should seek compensation for your losses. Call 703-260-6070, send an email to Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com or contact me through our website at www.RohrstaffLaw.com.

The kits were originally recalled in January 2009, and the recall is being reannounced because of additional injuries.

You may not have this toy in your home, but if your child is being cared for in someone else’s home, please make sure the toy is not there. These toys are dangerous.

Here’s a picture of the kit. The parts that explode are the purple lids of the small jars in the lower right corner of the picture. The dangerous ones HAVE NO VENT HOLES. According to the CPSC, pressure from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the jars of Bath Bombs/Balls or Bath Fizzies that come with the kits can cause the unvented lids to blow off, posing explosion and projectile hazards. The mixtures also contain citric acid that can get into the eyes during an explosion and cause eye irritation.

Children have suffered injuries from both projectiles and from citric acid getting into their eyes.

If you have this toy with unvented lids, take them away from children now and throw them away. If you want free replacement lids with vent holes, contact the manufacturer at caps@jakks.net.

If you know of a child who was injured by this product, you should contact a child injury lawyer to get information that could help the child recover for her damages. I will be glad to answer your questions. Call 703-260-6070, send me an email at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com or contact me through our website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com.

If you own one of these slings, quit using it immediately.

These slings are dangerous for two separate reasons: the positioning of the child in the sling and the child’s lack of muscle strength.  Both of these dangers can result in the suffocation of the child.

1.  In the first situation, the infant’s face is in contact with the sling’s fabric.  Since the baby does not have the neck muscles to move away from the fabric yet, the fabric can cover the nose and mouth and block the child from breathing.  If that happens, the baby would suffocate rapidly due to the lack of intake of oxygen.

2.  In the second situation, the child is positioned in a curled position with the chin facing the chest which restricts her airways.  In this case, the child is unable to cry for help because of the reduced oxygen intake.  If she remains in this position, she will thus suffocate slowly.

These dangers are serious and cannot be fixed, so the CPSC and Sprout Stuff have not issued repair instructions for the sling.

Officials are continuing to collect incident reports of cases involving this and other similar products.  If you have an incident to report, please visit: https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx.

At the Rasansky Law Firm, we are dedicated to doing everything we can to inform and protect those close to us.  Because of this, we feel it’s important to alert you to some very real concerns about the use of Paxil and its role in birth defects and death.

GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, has been found guilty of marketing and recommending their drug to women who are pregnant, even though studies have shown that it may cause severe birth defects in children.

Unfortunately, mothers were never made aware of this and now there are thousands of children that have been born with a number of different defects because of this horrible side effect.

If you have a child that suffered a birth injury as a result of taking Paxil, or its generic versions, even if it was only a small amount or a short period of time, you and your child may be eligible for damages from several class action lawsuits against the makers and distributors of Paxil.

Cases have already been won against the makers of Paxil across the country, and damages are being awarded for an average of $4 million.

The costs of a birth injury can often be wildly expensive, not to mention the lifelong injury to your child and your family.

I know that no amount of money can take back the pain and suffering that this drug may have caused, but it is imperative to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable when they put profits ahead of you and your child’s safety.

If you feel that you or a loved one has a claim, please contact us today so that we can discuss your situation and your options moving forward.

As always, thank you for trusting us a source of legal, health and safety information.

Jeff Rasansky
jeff.rasansky@jrlawfirm.com

An adult pushing on a screen may conclude it would keep a child from falling out the window. Don’t count on it. Children have an amazing way of getting past barriers in ways beyond our imagination.

And, don’t think your child is too short to reach the window sill. Even a very young child figures out early on how to move a chair and climb up on it to get where she wants.

Here are some tips from Safe Kids USA about preventing falls from windows:

Top Tips to Prevent Window Falls

* Install window guards to prevent children from falling out of windows. For windows above the first floor, install window guards with an emergency release device in case of fire.

* Install window stops so that windows open no more than four inches.

* Keep windows locked and closed when they are not being used.

* Keep furniture away from windows so kids cannot climb to the ledge.

* If you have double-hung windows — the kind that can open down from the top as well as up from the bottom — it is generally safer to open the top pane, but growing kids may have enough strength, dexterity and curiosity to open the bottom pane.

* Do not rely on window screens to prevent falls.

* Keep windows locked when they are closed.

* Supervise children at all times, especially around open windows.

Sometimes, though, even when a parent does everything right, a young child falls out of a screened window because the screen was in poor repair or installed incorrectly or faulty in its design.  If your child or a child you know was injured from a fall through a window screen, consult a Virginia child injury lawyer who can give you accurate information about whether your child has a claim for her injuries. Not every fall from a window is the fault of someone else, but some are. A Virginia child injury lawyer can evaluate the facts and advise you whether there is an at-fault person who could accountable for your child’s injuries.

I will be happy to answer your questions. Call me at 703-260-6070, send me an email at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com, or a fax to 703-260-6305. You can also contact me through our website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com. There is no charge for the consultation.

Here is a link to a short video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety about a collision between a 50 year old car and a new car. Riding in a car now is safer than it was 50 — or even 20 — years ago. Our children are luckier, and so are we.