Forensics Talk

Clog-clad Kids Getting Toes Caught in Escalators

By Sarah Karush

The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.18.2007

   WASHINGTON — At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators.

The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.

One of the nation's largest subway systems — the Washington Metro — has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Croc-clad foot caught in an escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.

At first, Rory's mother had no idea what caused the boy's foot to get caught. It was only later, when someone at the hospital remarked on Rory's shoes, that she began to suspect the Crocs and did an Internet search.

"I came home and typed in 'Croc' and 'escalator,' and all these stories came up," said Jodi McDermott, of Vienna, Va. "If I had known, those would never have been worn."

Reports of serious injuries related to Crocs have all involved young children. The shoes are commonly worn by children as young as 2. The company introduced shoes in its smallest size, 4/5, this past spring.

Niwot, Colo.-based Crocs Inc. said it does not keep records of the reasons for customer-service calls. But the company said it is aware of "very few" problems relating to accidents involving the shoes, which are made of a soft, synthetic resin.

"Thankfully, escalator accidents like the one in Virginia are rare," the company said in a statement.

In Japan, the government warned consumers last week that it has received 39 reports of sandals — mostly Crocs or similar products — getting stuck in escalators from late August through early September. Most of the reports appear to have involved small children, some as young as 2 years old... Read More

   

In risky financial move, hospitals pay specialists to be on call

By Carla McClain

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.16.2007

       In a desperate move to get doctors back into Tucson's emergency rooms to care for patients, hospitals here have started paying for that service.

That may sound like a logical thing to do, but it is no less than a revolution in emergency medicine — one that could trigger a wave of hospital bankruptcies, hospital officials fear.

"The only successful means of dealing with this crisis right now is paying them," said Greg Angle, CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital, one of several Tucson hospitals lacking vital ER coverage by physician specialists.

"But this is becoming a very, very slippery slope, endangering hospitals' bottom lines. The jury's still out on this. It's too new to know if hospitals can really afford it.

"But I can tell you it is costing us a very substantial amount of money to do it," he said, as much as $3 million a year.

In the good old days — just a few years ago — the idea of paying doctors to go on-call for emergencies was unthinkable. The age-old deal was that if doctors had privileges to practice at hospitals, then those doctors were obligated to take emergency calls there on a rotating basis with fellow specialists.

At a time when there was no shortage of specialists, and when most had privileges at three or four hospitals, the system provided full specialist coverage at Tucson's ERs, creating a solid safety net for emergency patients.

Now in tatters, that safety net began unraveling during the past decade, as economic pressures on physicians changed dramatically, making it no longer financially productive — or even fair, in some cases — to cancel their daily practices and rush off to the ER when called...Read More

Tucson ERs Lack Docs You May Need

By Carla McClain

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.16.2007

   

             Patients being sent to distant hospitals because specialists often aren't available

      The emergency room: That high-drama, high-adrenaline place you go when your sick or battered body suddenly fails you — where they pull you back from the brink of disaster.

But the truth is, if you're in serious trouble in Tucson and in need of specialty emergency care, there's a dangerously good chance you simply won't get it.

    At any given time in a Tucson ER, there will be no neurosurgeon to stop your bleeding brain, no plastic surgeon to fix your flailed flesh, no orthopedic surgeon to handle your complex fracture, no gastroenterologist to stem your internal hemorrhage, no hand surgeon to save your mangled fingers.

"What kind of ER is that?" asked Dr. Steven Pike, an emergency physician at St. Joseph's Hospital.

"The ER is really the window into our health care system, and it has gotten so bad, the system is broken. It no longer functions. You can no longer rely on the ER to save your life...Read More

Don't Get Burned On Your Holiday BBQ

 

CBS NEWS
NEW YORK, July 4, 2007

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(CBS)

Millions of Americans are going to fire up their grills for the Fourth of July holiday. Keeping in mind some simple safety tips can ensure that you don't get burned.

Dr. Roger Yurt, director of the Hearst Burn Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital / Weill-Cornell Medical Center, visited The Early Show to share some tips on preventing nasty burns.

Grills, Dr. Yurt says, can cause very serious burns. "People come in with 50 percent, 60 percent of their bodies burned. Any burn that's third degree is bad, no matter how big it is," he explains.

"It is not just a burn, it is the complications that can happen afterwards," Yurt adds. "It is a life-long type of thing, can be a problem for years."

Yurt says there is actually no such thing as a grilling accident. "We don't think of things in terms of accidents because there is always a reason for it. We always have to look back and try to avoid these things, because there are ways to avoid it." [Read More]

Burn Prevention Tips & Treatments

     While most of our burn survivors were brought into the burn unit during the Winter, we still had quite a number who were injured during the Summer. Mostly, their injuries were the result of things like lighter fluid, gasoline, lawn mowers and cigarettes, hot tar, or kids playing with matches or near electrical wires.

  As the article above states, it's dangerous to squirt lighter fluid onto hot charcoal. It can flare up and burn you badly. At the very least, it can singe your hair and face. If you're cooking with a gas grill, you need to first check to make sure that it's functioning correctly and there are no leaks.

   It's especially important if you've just bought a brand new grill. This happened to me a couple years ago. I had bought my husband a gas grill, on sale, from a large home center. When we put it together, we found that it was missing a piece. I called the store to request the piece, so we could finish putting it together.

   After obtaining a replacement, the unit went together just fine. However, the first time we used it, I pushed the little lighter button, and this big poof happened. Suddenly, I felt this wall of heat, yelled, and fell back. 

  Our daughter yelled, Mom, your hair, your eyebrows!

   I reached up, touched my hair, and my hand came away with clumps of singed hair. My eyebrows were in the same condition. Blisters were already forming on my forehead. Luckily, it hadn't happened to either our kids or grand-kids!

  The next day, I got the corporate number and called. After getting quite a bit of run around for a few weeks, the manufacturer's representative finally called me. She apologized, then told me that the unit had actually been recalled due to a defective part, which caused a gas leak.

  It was never supposed to be put on sale. (And the home center never even apologized) Be very careful around grills!

Another cause of Summer burn injuries was smoking while using the lawn mower.

The two don't mix!

 

Kiddie Pools Can Be A Summer Danger

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Kiddie pools, even containing just a few inches of water, can be a hazard for children. (AP/Mike Orazzi, The Bristol Press)

 (CBS) The plastic blow-up kiddie pool is a staple of summer, found in backyards from coast to coast. Most hold a few inches of water, and toddlers can play in them and keep cool. What could be simpler?

You shouldn't let the fact that your child is splashing around in shallow water give you a false sense of security. Kids can drown in as little as an inch of water. And, more shockingly, nine out of 10 drownings occur when a child is being supervised while swimming.

According to The Early Show consumer reporter Susan Koeppen, kiddie pools, even the small, blow-up sort, "should be treated just like an in-ground pool. Kids always need to be supervised when they're in a kiddie pool," she advised. "And when it's not in use, you should dump out the water."

Furthermore, she said, "You should always have pools within a fenced-in area. Even a kiddie pool. The fence should be at least five feet high so kids can't climb over and the gate should be one that closes on its own and locks."

One major misconception about drowning is that it's accompanied by thrashing and screaming. But, Koeppen said, "Drowning is usually silent. Also, people think that drownings happen when a child is unsupervised. But, nine out of 10 drownings happen when a child is being supervised. Often, people make the mistake of thinking someone else is supervising, so make sure you communicate if you need to leave the pool area. It can happen in the blink of an eye, so you need to always be so careful around water."

Full Article

Study Reveals: Kids Are Stupid

 

From Hit & Run
Kerry Howley | March 8, 2007, 2:07pm

Is your kid on acid, or just really into his spiderman pajamas? Authors of an important new study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood ...

The authors recommend that parents lock windows and doors before permitting the distribution of superhero garb.

Via Blog, MD.

Nick Gillespie's classic meditation on "child-proofing the world" is here.

  Archives of Disease in Childhood 2007;92:242-243; doi:10.1136/adc.2006.109793
© 2007 by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

 Superhero-related injuries in paediatrics: a case series

   Patrick Davies¹, Julia Surridge², Laura Hole³ and Lisa Munro-Davies³

¹ Department of Paediatrics, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK
² Children’s Emergency Department, Derby Children’s Hospital, Derby, UK
³ Emergency Department, Royal Bristol Children’s Hospital, Bristol, UK
Correspondence to: 
Dr P Davies 
Department of Paediatrics, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK

ABSTRACT
Five cases of serious injuries to children wearing superhero costumes, involving extreme risk-taking behaviour, are presented here. Although children have always displayed behaviour seemingly unwise to the adult eye, the advent of superhero role models can give unrealistic expectations to the child, which may lead to serious injury. 

The children we saw have all had to contemplate on their way to hospital that they do not in fact possess superpowers. The inbuilt injury protection which some costumes possess is also discussed. 

 

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Related Article

 

A brief digest of the March issue
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: 3. [Extract] [Full Text]