Boston Injury Attorney Blog

Massachusetts's consumers should be aware that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning consumers about the dangers associated with recalled Simplicity drop side cribs manufactured by Simplicity, Inc. and CFCA Inc. of Reading, PA. The CPSC also is aware of as many as 11 deaths and an additional 25 incidents involving the drop side detaching from the crib.

To date, CPSC has recalled over 2 million Simplicity drop side cribs due to problems with the crib's plastic hardware. The plastic hardware can break or deform, causing the drop side to detach. When the drop side detaches, it creates a space between the drop side and the crib mattress. Infants and toddlers can roll into this space and become entrapped which can lead to suffocation. All Simplicity drop side cribs have been recalled. The recalled drop side cribs were sold in department stores, children's stores, and mass merchandisers nationwide from January 2005 through June 2009 for between $150 and $300.

The agency says caregivers should check their cribs to see whether they have a recalled Simplicity crib. If they do, consumers should stop using them immediately and should not attempt to fix the cribs.

Federal regulators have approved a new rule that will require manufacturers of durable infant and child products to maintain a registration list of customers, making it easier to notify parents about dangerous and defective products. The new safety rule, will require manufacturers of cribs, high chairs, gates, strollers and other infant and toddler furniture to provide registration cards with each product and maintain a list of registered consumers. The registration would be used to alert as many consumers as possible if there is a product recall.

CPSC officials hope that the new rule promulgated on December 16 will allow the commission to quickly and efficiently contact a large number of purchasers immediately when a problem with the products have been detected, as opposed to having to rely on media, word-of-mouth, or non-uniform methods which may vary from company to company.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, injuries are among the leading causes of death in the United States. Mortality data from 2006 show that unintentional injuries, including those in Massachusetts,were the leading cause of death for those 1- 44 years of age, and the 5th leading cause of death for all ages. Injuries cause a relatively small number of deaths compared with the number of injuries seen in hospitals and emergency departments. In 2006, for each death by injury, there were nearly 11 times as many hospitalizations and 179 times as many emergency department visits. Determining how an injury occurs is the first step towards preventing future injuries. Motor vehicle traffic accidents were responsible for 24 percent of injury deaths, followed by poisoning (21 percent), and firearms (17 percent). Falls accounted for 25 percent of non-fatal injuries in 2006. The body region specified most often for injury deaths was the head and neck. Nine out of ten head and neck injuries were classified as traumatic brain injuries (TBI). In 2006, TBI resulted in 53,000 deaths, 210,000 hospitalizations, and 330,000 initial emergency department visits.

Data on the nature of injury provide important information on health care utilization and assist in targeting prevention strategies. Fracture accounted for 53 percent of hospitalized injuries. Among adults 65 years and older, hip fractures were mentioned in 38 percent of hospitalizations and in 15 percent of injury deaths. Home was the leading place of injury occurrence, accounting for 47 percent of the respondent-reported non-fatal, medically attended injury episodes. More than one-third of respondent-reported non-fatal, medically attended injury episodes occurred while a person was engaged in leisure activities including sports.

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