Articles Posted in Injuries to Minors

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The parents of a 3-year-old boy that died after surgery have agreed on a $200,000 Portland, Oregon wrongful death settlement with the doctor that performed the procedure. Ian McClellan died from septic shock 8 days after Dr. Jayant Patel perforated the 3-year-old’s bowel while trying to insert a feeding tube inside him. The surgical malpractice incident took place on February 5, 1999.

This is not the first Oregon medical malpractice lawsuit naming Patel as a defendant. Also, in 2000 the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners barred the surgeon from working again in the state. He eventually moved to Australia where he kept performing surgeries. He has been charged with manslaughter in that country over the deaths of three patients. Patel has been called “Dr. Death.”

Per Matthew and Anna Maria McClellan’s Oregon medical malpractice involving fatal injuries to minors lawsuit that they filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Patel discovered the perforation the day after the surgery when he opened up their son again. They say that Patel and the hospitals told them that Ian died because he developed a postoperative infection. It wasn’t until April 15, 2005 when the Oregonian began publishing a number of articles about Patel’s work that they discovered the real reason their son died. The McClellans had originally sued Patel and the hospitals for $1.55 million.

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According to news reports, the Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering its endorsement that it is okay to use ground-up, recycled tires on kids’ playgrounds and sports fields. The tire mulch has been used to cushion the ground in the event of a fall accident.

Now, however, the EPA says there is not enough information to determine whether use of these recycled tires could actually prove a health hazard, and communities in Oregon and other US states are wondering whether they could lead to the inhalation of metals, lead, and chemicals if children touch, inhale, or swallow the material.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says older fields that are more worn down may pose a greater risk for lead exposure. It’s also important to note, however, that not all turf fibers are made with lead.

With the summer holidays fast approaching, many school kids are likely to spend time outdoors playing in local playgrounds or on playground equipments in residential backyards. It’s a good time to note that recycled tires may not be the only issue of concern when it comes to kids’ safety.

Playground Accidents and Injuries
SafeKids USA calls playground accidents the number one cause of injuries to kids ages of 5 to 14—with 150,000 kids each year ending up in US emergency rooms because they were involved in accidents involving playground equipment. About 10 kids die from playground injuries annually, with many injuries caused by fall accidents or strangulation accidents, such as when a piece of clothing gets caught on playground equipment.

Playground equipment that have been known to cause injuries to kids include:

• Swings with metal or wood seats or half-bucket seats
• Adjustable seesaws with chains
• Merry-go-rounds or roundabouts that lack the proper handgrips
• Poorly secured climbing ropes
• Monkey bars
• Lack of a proper playground surface
A defective playground product that causes personal injury can be grounds for an Oregon products liability case involving injuries to children. A premise that has a hazard that causes injury can be grounds for an Oregon premises liability lawsuit.

EPA rethinks play padding, Chicago Tribune, June 5, 2009
No. 1 Cause of Injury in Elementary School: Playground Accidents, Safe Kids USA
Related Web Resources:
Playground Safety, NSC.org
US Environmental Protection Agency

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Exodus Tyson, the 4-year-old daughter of Mike Tyson, has died. She passed away on Tuesday morning after being placed on life support following a tragic hanging accident that took place on a treadmill in the family’s home.

According to police, Exodus was discovered with her neck wrapped in the cord that hangs from the treadmill console. Her mother pulled the cord off her and tried reviving the 4-year-old before paramedics came to take her to a hospital. Police are calling her death a tragic accident. They say that Exodus was playing on the exercise machine, but it was not in operation when the strangulation accident happened.

Strangulation Accidents
Unfortunately, accidental deaths at home occur more often that we would like to think. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly that 900 kids die every year from strangulation accidents. 45% of these child fatalities occur at home. Many of the victims are younger than 4.

While it is important that parents and guardians take the necessary steps to prevent strangulation and choking accidents from happening, it is also up to product manufacturers to make sure that they make products that do not pose an injury or death hazard to consumers—especially children. Sometimes, the products that you least expect to prove dangerous may have been designed in such a way that they have defects that can cause catastrophic injuries, including:

• Clothing with long drawstrings that can get caught in a motor vehicle door or become easily tangled around the neck of a child that is roughhousing.

• Cribs made with defective slats that can easily come off, creating a gap that poses an entrapment or strangulation hazard if a child falls through the opening.

• Extra long drapery or window blind cords that can easily wrap around a toddler’s neck.

Catastrophic strangulation accidents can result in traumatic brain injuries and even death. If your child was seriously injured or died due to a strangulation accident caused by a dangerous toy, or a defective piece of furniture, clothing, or household /recreational appliance, you may be entitled to Portland, Oregon personal injury compensation.

Sad update on accident involving Mike Tyson’s daughter, Examiner.com, May 26, 2009
Avoiding Home Health Hazards, CBS News, May 27, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Consumer Product Safety Commission

Preventing strangulation and suffocation, Raising Children Network

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A couple of months ago, our Portland, Oregon personal injury law firm published a blog post discussing how the hot summer months are a time when dogs are more likely to bite kids. This is a concern, considering that statistically the 5-9 year age group has the highest rate of dog bite-related injuries.

This week is National Dog Bite Prevention Week, which is meant to remind people that dog attacks do happen and that it is important that owners and parents take the proper preventive measures so that dog bite incidents don’t happen.

Dog bite injuries can lead to serious lacerations, physical disfigurement, and even death—in the event of a serious dog mauling. They can also be grounds for an Oregon dog bite lawsuit if someone’s pet injures another adult or child.

Each year, about 885,000 dog bite victims will seek medical attention for their injuries. Some of these injuries will require extensive and expensive surgeries. According to American Societies of Plastic Surgeons President John Canady, MD, plastic surgeons performed 16,000 reconstructive surgeries to repair dog bite injuries in 2008. Also, the emotional trauma from a brutal dog attack can last a lifetime.

Steps dog owners can take to prevent Oregon dog attacks:

• Keep your dog safely fenced in if your pet is in a yard without supervision.
• When taking your dog out in public, make sure your pet is on a leash.
• Make sure your dog’s vaccinations (especially for rabies) are current.
• Don’t leave your dog alone with children that your pet may not know.
• Train your dog to behave and obey commands.
• If your dog is prone to biting people, make sure that you avoid situations where that can happen or that you take steps to secure or restrain your dog when he or she is around others.
• If your dog can get aggressive around strangers, post “Beware of Dog” signs around your property.
• If necessary, use a muzzle on your dog.
• If possible, spay or neuter your dog.
• Socialize your dog if you are going to expose your pet to other people.

It’s national dog-bite prevention week, Oregon Live, May 18, 2009
Tips to Prevent Dog Bites, American Kennel Club
Related Web Resources:
Famed Hollywood Dog Trainer and Lassie Descendant Unleash National Dog Bite Prevention Week, Plastic Surgery Practice, May 14, 2009
More Dogs Bite Kids in the Summer, Says Study, Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog, March 10, 2009

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The US Department of Transportation is developing a new consumer program that will involve car manufacturers recommending specific child safety seats for each of their cars. Not every child car seat is necessarily the right fit for a specific car—even if the seat is highly rated or reviewed as one of the best or most expensive products in the market. A variety of recommendations will be made to meet different parents’ budgets that can hopefully help them pick the safest seats for their kids.

The US DOT also is ordering the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop a new child safety seat standard for side impact safety. 1/3rd of all highway fatalities involving children younger than age 13 occur during side impact auto collisions.

While the current standard requiring child seats to withstand forces stronger than 99.5% of real collisions is good, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood believes that more can be done to improve child safety during auto accidents. He also noted that in order for a properly working child safety seat to do its job, parents and other adults must make sure that kids use them. According to statistics, 50% of kids under 8 years of age that died in auto accidents were not using child safety seats.

That said, it is the job of child safety seat manufacturers to make sure that their seats are free from defects. Parents and guardians rely on child safety seats to keep their kids and babies safe during auto collisions. While a properly working child safety seat can save lives, a defective seat can prove catastrophic.

Examples of defects that can render a child safety seat ineffective:

• Improper padding on the seat
• Defective seat buckle that can unlock at the wrong time, failing to properly secure the child in the seat
• Defective child seat clip
• Improperly designed harness
• Insufficient or hard to understand installation instructions
There is nothing more devastating for a parent than for his or her child to get hurt. If your son or daughter sustained serious or fatal injuries in a Portland, Oregon car accident that were partially caused by a defective child car seat, you may be entitled to recover Oregon personal injury or wrongful death compensation.

U.S. DOT Announces New Consumer Program for Child Safety Seats, NHTSA, April 24, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Consumer Product Safety Commission

Child Passenger Safety, NHTSA
Car Safety Seats: A Guide for Families 2009, American Academy of Pediatrics

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A leading cause of pediatric malpractice is a birth defect that isn’t often discussed but occurs more often than one would think: Malrotation, which involves the abnormal alignment of the bowel. This usually happens while the fetus is growing. This birth defect can also be hereditary. Occurring in 1 in 500 live births (like cerebral palsy), most cases are diagnosed by the time the baby turns one.

However, it is not uncommon for pediatricians to misdiagnose or delay diagnosis of this potentially deadly bowel condition and mistake malrotation for a mild illness, such as acid reflux. The only way to untwist the bowels if the malformation is serious is through surgery and when treatment is delayed, the defect can be fatal if blood flow to the intestines is blocked for too long. In many instances involving a misdiagnosed malrotation, a child with this birth defect end up having to be rushed to an emergency room.

Signs of Malrotation:

• Abdominal pain
• Projectile vomit that is green or yellow in color
• A bloody stool
• A swollen abdomen
• Rapid breathing or heart rate
• Drawing up of the legs
Malrotation can also result in other complications, such as Ladd’s bands, volvulus, and obstruction caused by either of these complications. The sooner malrotation is diagnosed, the better the chances that a child will recover fully and develop normally.

Pediatric Malpractice:
Your son or daughter deserves the proper medical care and when a pediatrician or another doctor is careless or makes a mistake that causes injury or death, the medical care provider should be held liable for the injuries to your child. Grounds for pediatric malpractice can include:

• Surgical errors
• Birthing injuries
• Meningitis
• Negligent care
• Delayed diagnosis
• Wrong diagnosis
• Prescription mistakes
Malrotation: Potentially fatal bowel condition often misdiagnosed as mild ailment, Chicago Sun-Times, April 21, 2009
Intestinal Malrotation, KidsHealth
Related Web Resources:
Malrotation

Malrotation and Volvulus, The American Pediatric Surgical Association

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In Portland, a 16-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was struck by two cars on Interstate 5 on Sunday. The teen pedestrian had just left the Rose Garden where he had been watching the Portland Trail Blazers play against the San Antonio Spurs.

The boy is being treated at Legacy Emanuel Hospital. Portland police are investigating the cause of the fatal Oregon pedestrian accident. They think he may have been trying to cross the freeway. One vehicle reportedly hit the boy before he was hit by another car.

Both motorists stopped at the Portland, Oregon traffic accident scene and spoke to local authorities. One woman who had also been watching the basketball game says the boy is not the only one that had been trying to cross Interstate 5.

Oregon Pedestrian Accidents
It is important that pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists take steps to prevent pedestrian accidents from happening. Whenever there is a traffic accident involving a pedestrian, he or she is the one most prone to serious injuries.

The Web site PedestrianSafety.com talks about a list of scenarios on the road that can lead to Portland traffic accidents and resulting pedestrian injuries and deaths:

• A motor vehicle turns into a pedestrian’s path.
• A pedestrian runs onto the street.
• A pedestrian crosses the street in the middle of the road.
• A bus may be obstructing another motorist’s view, making it difficult to see that there is a pedestrian behind a large vehicle unless the driver or motorcyclist is paying close attention.

To prevent pedestrian accidents, a Safety and Consumer Protection Web site advises:
• Yield the right of way to pedestrians whether or not there is a walk signal or pedestrian lane if they have already started crossing the street.
• Do not overtake or try to pass a vehicle that is stopped at an intersection.

Teen Struck By Car After Leaving Rose Garden, Fox 12 Oregon, March 1, 2009
Rules and pointers for pedestrians and drivers, Safety & Consumer Protection
Pedestrian Safety

Related Web Resources:
Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, Oregon.gov
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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The family of Jakobi Mulgrave, the 10-year-old boy who survived a Eugene drunk driving accident that killed his mother and three other people last month, is suing several plaintiffs on his behalf for personal injury. According to the Oregon car accident lawsuit, which is seeking approximately $13 million, Jakobi sustained a brain injury, a fractured skull, a fractured pelvis, as well as damage to his kidney, spleen, and liver. Mulgrave is being treated at a Portland hospital.

The catastrophic motor vehicle accident took place on the night of January 21 when an Isuzu Rodeo, driven by Matthew Ellmers and the Toyota Highlander carrying Jakobi, his mother Yvonne, Connie Marie Vermilyea, 34, Jaziah Vermilyea, 10, and Nima Gibba, 11, collided, causing the Highlander to turn in the air and hit a utility pole. Ellmers, who is the only other person to survive the crash, also sustained serious injuries. Police say the 24-year-old Eugene driver was driving drunk.

The Mulgrave family’s Oregon personal injury lawsuit involving injuries to minors contends that Jakobi should receive $10 million for noneconomic damages, $2.8 million for lost wages throughout his lifetime, medical expenses, and other costs.

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A 62-year-old Portland man is suing the Franciscan Friars of California for injuries he says he sustained as a child when a priest sexually abused him. In his Oregon sex abuse lawsuit, he is seeking $4 million in damages. The plaintiff claims Father Claude Riffe sexually abused him during the 60’s at the St. Francis Minor Seminary in Troutdale.

Clergy Sex Abuse

Clergy sex abuse by a number of priests and other members of the Catholic Church has been a problem for a long time. Fortunately, there are legal remedies available to victims—whether they are still children who were recently abused or adults who were the victims of sexual abuse when they were children.

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In Oregon, a Multnomah County jury has awarded the family of an Oregon family $560,000 for injuries sustained by a toddler who fell head first from the second-story duplex that her family was renting in Gresham. The girl, Isabella White, cracked her skull, suffered brain tissue loss, and experienced bleeding in her brain when her head struck the concrete pavement in April 2007. The Oregon premises liability defendants in the case were Keys Rental Management and Keys Rental Holding Co. Only the management company was found liable.

Isabella is now 4, but she was just 2 ½ when the fall accident happened. She fell through a window after her mother had opened it and the window screen gave way.

During the premises liability trial, the family’s Oregon personal injury lawyer argued that the apartment management company should have warned Isabella’s parents that the window in the duplex—just 23 inches off the ground—was a potential injury hazard for kids. Their lawyer also accused the defendant of failing to install safety devices, such as a child-safe screen, that could have prevented Isabella’s fall accident.

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50 SW Pine St 3rd Floor Portland, OR 97204 Telephone: (503) 226-3844 Fax: (503) 943-6670 Email: matthew@mdkaplanlaw.com
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