Infant Deaths Linked to Sleep Positioners

Sleep positioning devices have been linked to infant injury and death around the country.

2010-10-31

October 31, 2010 (Press-News.org) The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have received 12 reports in the past 13 years of infants between the ages of one and four months who died when they were suffocated by or became trapped in a sleep positioner.

"The deaths and dangerous situations resulting from the use of infant sleep positioners are a serious concern to CPSC," said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners, so that children can have a safer sleep."

The CPSC and the FDA are warning parents and child care providers to:
- Stop using sleep positioners -- using a positioner to hold an infant on his or her back or side for sleep is both dangerous and unnecessary.
- Never put pillows, infant sleep positioners, comforters or quilts under a baby or in a crib while the child is using it.
- Place infants on their backs at night and during nap time -- the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends placing infants on their backs to sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Sleep positioning products are dangerous because infants placed in them have a tendency to flip into a face-down position, leading to a higher suffocation risk. A sleep positioner is dangerous even if used correctly -- infants who are placed properly on their backs onto the device may still be able to scoot up or down, increasing the likelihood that they could become trapped between the device and the side of the crib or bassinet and suffocate.

FDA pediatric expert Susan Cummins, M.D., M.P.H, says parents and caregivers can create a safe environment for babies if they leave the crib free of pillows, toys, blankets and other items. As she wisely states, "the safest crib is a bare crib."

To help keep your child safe, stop using a sleep positioning device immediately. If, tragically, your child has already suffered injury, report the incident to the CPSC and consider contacting an experienced personal injury attorney in your area to learn more about your legal rights and options.

Article provided by Mark C. Tanenbaum, P.A.
Visit us at www.tanenbaumlaw.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Shift From Paper to Electronic Medical Records: Cause for Concern?

2010-10-31

From banking and managing finances to shopping and ordering pizza, almost everything these days is done electronically. Not every sector of society has been quick to embrace the electronic age, however. The medical community has remained behind the digital curve. For a long time, the medical community kept handwritten records for patients and used handwritten orders for prescriptions. Backed by a $19.5 billion boost from the stimulus package passed in February 2009, though, the medical community is slowly starting to implement digital record keeping, moving toward widespread ...

Virginia DUI Penalties Among Toughest in Nation

2010-10-31

Motorists on Virginia's scenic roads take note: if you drive under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs (even legal prescription medications if they have a sedating effect), you will be caught, and you will face stiff penalties. Virginia's lawmakers have taken a firm stance against impaired driving in an attempt to slow the tide of DUI-related crashes, injuries and fatalities -- an alcohol-related crash occurs about every two minutes somewhere in America, and every half an hour someone dies in one. Virginia's DUI laws are no-nonsense and provide some of the most ...

No-Fault Divorce Comes to New York

2010-10-31

With a flick of the pen, Governor David Paterson has ended New York's holdout as the only state in the union to disallow no-fault divorce. Prior to the signing of the law, which took effect October 12th, New Yorkers were able to divorce only by proving fault for abandonment, adultery, cruelty or imprisonment. There was, however, a way for couples to divorce without fault prior to the new law. This required couples to enter into a separation agreement and live apart for at least one year. The catch with this option comes in the agreement; couples had to agree on all of ...

Do No Harm; If A Doctor Does, They Need To Admit To Conduct That Injures

2010-10-31

Hippocrates insisted that "The physician must...have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm." It is with the faith that their physicians will "do good" or at least "do no harm" that patients seek out medical care. Recent studies have indicated that physicians are poorly trained in matters of patient safety and practice in an environment that often work against the wellbeing of those seeking their expertise. A recent study by the National Patient Safety Foundation noted that medical schools today focus principally on providing ...

The Use of Skype Ordered in Family Court

2010-10-31

For people in family court, staying in touch, especially via court-ordered visitation arrangements, can be a challenge. But some courts are implementing new high-tech approaches to address old family law issues. A New York judge recently ruled that as a condition of her out-of-state move away to Florida, a Long Island mother must make her two children available to talk to their father through Skype, an online video conferencing service. Although this was the first time such a condition has been ordered in New York, a number of other states have begun experimenting with ...

The Rise of Gray Divorce

2010-10-31

The Baby Boomer generation gave us the summer of love and a break from some of the traditions of the previous generations. Now it appears the Baby Boomer generation is also giving us a normalization of divorce, especially later in life. Despite an overall decline in the United States divorce rate, divorces among those married 20, 30 and even 40 years appear to be on the rise. According to Erica Manfred, a New York divorce expert, this rising number of splits between long-married couples is referred to as "gray divorce." Gray Divorce Statistics While not specifically ...

Megan's Law: The Sex-Offender Registry in New Jersey

2010-10-31

In 1994, the Registration and Community Notification Laws (RCNL), more commonly known as Megan's Law, was enacted in response to the public's demand for more information on the identity and residence of previously convicted sex offenders who are considered a possible threat to the safety of others in the community. Megan's Law created a state registry of sex offenders, a similar Internet registry and a community notification procedure to alert the public when state officials deem it necessary for public safety. The law requires continual registration from people convicted ...

NY Requires Interlocks and Imposes Increased Penalties on DWI Offenders

2010-10-31

On August 15, Leandra's Law -- also called the Child Passenger Protection Act -- went into effect. Leandra's Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who died last October after she was thrown from a car driven by a drunk driver. The law requires that those convicted of drunk driving, including first time offenders, install interlock devices in their vehicles. The interlock device is a breath test that disables the ignition of the vehicle if it detects a trace of alcohol. According to statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), locations ...

A New Big Rig Danger: Bogus Medical Checks for Truckers

2010-10-31

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has responsibility in several important areas: investigating the causes of accidents involving trains, aircraft, and a variety of other vehicles and vessels; promoting transportation safety; and helping victims of transportation-related accidents as well as the families of fatal accident victims. One important aspect of this mission is the board's oversight of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which directly regulates commercial trucks, buses and other vehicles to prevent fatal truck accidents and catastrophic ...

Driving by Gender: Who Causes More Motor Vehicle Accidents?

2010-10-31

It's a debate as old as the internal combustion engine and the advent of headlights: Are women better drivers than men, or vice versa? While media stereotypes once led to the acceptance of "woman driver" as an inherently critical label, the truth is that men are significantly more likely to get into crashes. This fact has long been known by the insurance company actuaries who set policy rates for individuals, but the precise differences are well described in recent statistics. On the high end, the New York Times reported in August on a city traffic study that revealed ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

National poll finds gaps in community preparedness for teen cardiac emergencies

One strategy to block both drug-resistant bacteria and influenza: new broad-spectrum infection prevention approach validated

Modular assembly of chiral nitrogen-bridged rings achieved by palladium-catalyzed diastereoselective and enantioselective cascade cyclization reactions