One of the great features of any hotel when you are on vacation with your family is an outdoor pool. Even for visitors to Rancho Bernardo who are planning to spend much of their time at the beach, if you are staying at a hotel with a pool, there is a good chance that you and your children will enjoy some time by the poolside. However, pools can be extremely dangerous, and children especially can sustain serious hotel injuries at a pool. While drowning due to swimming inexperience or slipping and falling typically is the primary concern when it comes to hotel pool injuries, there are other ways that guests can get hurt while enjoying the water. Specifically, pool drain accidents and pool filter accidents happen more often than you might think.

Hotel Pools and Circulation Entrapments in Drains

Pools and hot tubs at hotels have drain systems and filter systems that are designed to clean the water and to create circulation. While these systems help to ensure that hotel guests are swimming in clean water, they can also lead to serious personal injuries if proper safety precautions are not taken or if these devices do not undergo regular maintenance. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) refers to many of these injuries that lead to drowning deaths as “circulation entrapments.” In such situations, an injured guest may be able to file a hotel negligence claim.

As an article in the New York Daily News clarifies, “the suction created by the drains [in pools and hot tubs] can trap children under the surface or catch limbs, in some cases causing serious injury or death.” Indeed, according to a spokesperson for the Pool Safety Council, “the force of a drain on a residential pool has a weight of at least 500 pounds.” Every year, 390 children under the age of 15, on average, suffer fatal injuries in “pool or spa-related submersion injuries,” with many of these accidents involving pool drains and filters. More than 50% of these injuries occur at public pools or hotel pools.

Between the years 2008 and 2012, pool drain injuries were responsible for a total of 39 emergency department visits, and most of the victims were children. They suffered from a variety of injuries, including drowning symptoms, fractured bones, and intestinal prolapse. At least two children during that period died from their injuries. A 7-year-old girl recently suffered a near-fatal drowning after her hair got caught in a swimming pool filter, according to an article in News.com.

Pool Drain Accidents can be Prevented When Hotels Take Proper Safety Measures

Pools drains need to be inspected regularly, or else they can come loose. As the article emphasizes, many newer pools have domed drain covers that are designed to prevent these types of injuries, but even this type of drain cover can lead to a circulation entrapment if it is not checked often by hotel maintenance. In some cases, the screws come loose, and in others they become rusty and the drain cover comes off.

If a child does get stuck in a pool drain, it is important to avoid trying to life the child directly off the train. To be sure, “the force of the suction makes that impossible.” What should parents or staff do? An adult should attempt to wedge their fingers between the drain and the child’s body, and then roll the child off the drain sideways.

Contact a Hotel Negligence Attorney in Rancho Bernardo

Hotels and motels have a duty to maintain pools properly, including drains and filters. If your child suffered an injury at a hotel or motel in Southern California, you should speak with a Rancho Bernardo hotel negligence lawyer about your options. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we assist injury victims.

See Related Blog Posts: California Hotel Liability and Swimming Pool Accidents Liability When Resort or Hotel Guests Get Hurt

(image courtesy of Ryan Wilson)

Can children and adults really suffer fatal injuries as a result of “dry drowning” or “secondary drowning” in San Marcos this summer? Parents often hear about—and worry about—the risks of dry drowning, yet according to a recent article in TribLive, physicians say that there are many misconceptions about dry drowning and secondary drowning that need to be cleared up. These terms suggest that they refer to medical conditions, when in fact they often are used in many different scenarios in which people are suffering from a variety of medical conditions. As such, parents do not need to worry about dry drowning, but they do need to be aware of other medical conditions that can arise when a child is involved in a drowning accident.

Dry Drowning is Not Real, But Other Medical Conditions are

According to Dr. Peter Wernicki, who is a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council, the terms ‘dry drowning’ and ‘secondary drowning’ are ones that have “totally been over-hyped by social media and people who are not knowledgeable on the subject.” He went on to emphasize that there is a common misconception that kids get rescued from the water or accidentally swallow or inhale water in the ocean or in a pool, and then suddenly—without warning—the child stops breathing hours or days later. As Wernicki underscores, “that just doesn’t happen.” Indeed, he clarified, “a child doesn’t act fine for eight hours and then die from drowning.”

Yet this does not mean that a near-drowning incident can not result in other serious medical conditions that can in fact lead to death if left untreated. For instance, kids (as well as adults) who are involved in near-drowning incidents can contract aspiration pneumonia. This is an “infection that develops from water trapped in the lungs.” Yet, as Wernicki highlights, this is not a situation that could be described as drowning, and it is also very rare. Other serious infections and conditions can also happen after a near-drowning accident, but they have warning signs, and they simply should not be classified as dry drowning or secondary drowning given that each is distinct.

Signs of Aspiration Pneumonia and Other Conditions Resulting from a Near-Drowning Incident

Recognizing that the terms ‘dry drowning’ and ‘secondary drowning’ have become misleading, the American Red Cross has recommended that healthcare providers stop using them. Parents often bring their children to the doctor after the child has ingested water while swimming, worrying that the child could die as a result of dry drowning. Yet doctors underscore that this is not time well spent. Kids who do have aspiration pneumonia and other conditions show signs like “coughing and labored breathing many hours after leaving the water,” which means that parents would know if there was a problem.

Instead of spending time seeking treatment for kids with no symptoms, pediatricians recommend that parents spend time on drowning prevention methods, including swimming lessons and CPR training.

Just because dry drowning is not a real condition does not mean that parents should not be vigilant about signs of harm after a near-drowning accident. The following are symptoms that may require medical attention:

• Increasingly rapid breathing;
• Labored breathing;
• Lethargy; and
• Any general signs that the child is not well.

Contact a San Marcos Drowning Accident Lawyer

If your child suffered serious harm in a drowning accident, you should speak with a San Marcos drowning accident lawyer about your options. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information.

See Related Blog Posts: Oceanside Residents and the Pool Safety Act California Hotel Liability and Swimming Pool Accidents

(image courtesy of Ryan Wilson)

While beaches in Carlsbad and Oceanside are popular throughout the year, these beaches grow particularly crowded during the summer when the risk of a drowning accident increases. According to a recent article in The San Diego Union-Tribune, a drowning death in Carlsbad last summer has left members of the community “looking for ways to improve safety at its three-quarter-mile North Beach before the busy season returns.” Currently, that area of the beach, which is very close to Oceanside, does not have lifeguards on duty. In the event of an emergency, state lifeguards will “respond from the nearby state beach.” However, safety advocates argue that such a response is insufficient.

Developing a Plan to Make Carlsbad Beach Area Safer

The City Council, according to the article, wants its staff to “develop a plan on how to make the beach safer, including the possibility of adding lifeguards there.” According to City Manager Kevin Crawford, City Council staff members will conduct research into different safety options and will seek involvement from Carlsbad residents before providing the City Council with “some options that could be implemented before summer.” As Crawford clarified, “It’s going to be a push . . . a lot of work, but I think we can do it.”

Why is there a clear need for a better safety response? The article points out that, if one looks at the number of lifeguard rescues in Carlsbad compared to those at nearby beaches, the numbers alone suggest a need for state lifeguards to patrol. For instance, over the July 4th weekend in 2016, 197 rescues were made by state lifeguards called in for an emergency around North Beach, while 225 rescues were made at other state park beaches in the Carlsbad area. Shortly after the July 4th weekend, a tourist in Carlsbad drowned at North Beach with his 12-year-old granddaughter.

Although there are signs posted at North Beach that warn visitors about the dangers of going into the ocean for “weak swimmers,” such signs often are not enough to keep tourists out of the water. Given that “there are no safety services on the city beach,” relying upon lifeguards at nearby state parks simply is not sufficient in many cases. Carlsbad city officials have been considering ways of adding lifeguard services to North Beach since 1983, yet the addition of such services has not yet come to fruition. However, as the beach becomes a more popular spot for tourists, the need for safety mechanisms and protocols becomes more pronounced.

Learning More About Unintentional Drowning

How often do unintentional drowning deaths occur, and can they be prevented? According to a fact sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on average, more than 3,500 unintentional drowning deaths have occurred each year in the country between 2005 and 2014. This figure does not take into account boating accidents, which would significantly increase this number. To put that figure another way, around 10 drowning deaths occur each day on average.

To prevent drowning deaths, the CDC recommends the following:

• Ensure that children take formal swimming lessons, especially if they are between the ages of 1 and 4 years old;
• Learn CPR if you spend time near the water as you could help to save a life;
• Always supervise children when they are in or around the water;
• Require your children to use the buddy system when swimming in a pool or in the ocean, and set an example by doing so yourself;
• Do not drink alcohol when you are in or around the water;
• Obey warnings at your local beach;
• Know the signs of dangerous waves or indications of rip currents (such as discolored, choppy, foamy, or debris-filled water); and
• If you get caught in a rip current, you should swim parallel to the shore.

Many drowning deaths are preventable. If you or someone you love got hurt in a drowning incident, you should speak with a Carlsbad drowning accident lawyer. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.

See Related Blog Posts: Swimming Pools as “Death Traps”? Learning More About Dry Drowning and Secondary Drowning

(image courtesy of Ian Schneider)

Most San Diego residents do not have to wait until summer to enjoy trips to the beach or afternoons by the pool. However, given that most children are on vacation during the summer months and likely will be engaging in recreational activities in and around the water, it is important to think about water safety and ways of preventing serious and even fatal child injuries. Parents in California should understand the risks and symptoms of both dry drowning and secondary drowning, and how to react in the event that an accident happens. According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, dry drowning and secondary drowning are not especially well understood, and it is important to learn more about how these incidents can occur.

Risks Continue After a Child Leaves the Water One of the scariest features of both dry drowning and secondary drowning is that the child typically appears to be safe after being pulled from the water, only to exhibit life-threatening symptoms at a later point. Dry drowning is a little bit different from secondary drowning in terms of the timing. To better understand the symptoms of each, we should take a closer look at what each type of drowning entails.

What is dry drowning? As the article explains, it is a form of drowning that occurs when a child swallows water, and that water irritates his or her throat and windpipes to the extent that the child has difficulty breathing. Dry drowning typically takes place within an hour following a near-drowning experience. Parents should see signs or symptoms of dry drowning within an hour—and perhaps much sooner—of swallowing or inhaling water.

Without immediate medical attention, a dry drowning incident can quickly result in death. It is important for parents to recognize that dry drowning need not occur following a near-drowning experience in a pool or in the ocean. Even a small puddle of water can lead to a dry drowning incident. For example, if a child slips and falls outside and lands in a small amount of water, that can be enough to cause a life-threatening situation. Bathtubs and showers, too, can lead to a dry drowning incident.

Secondary drowning is a bit different in that it can take many hours—sometimes up to 24 hours—for symptoms to appear. While dry drowning does not necessarily result in water in a child’s lungs, secondary drowning happens when a child swallows or inhales water, and it enters the lungs. If water enters a child’s lungs, the lungs can collapse, making it impossible for the child to breathe.

This type of drowning is not always accompanied by a clearly dangerous situation in the water. In other words, a parent might not see his or her child flailing in the water before a secondary drowning accident occurs. Incidents that can lead to secondary drowning often do not seem especially serious at the time. As such, if your child displays any signs or symptoms, take your child to a health care provider immediately.

Signs and Symptoms of Dry Drowning and Secondary Drowning The key to avoiding a dry drowning or secondary drowning fatality is to seek immediate medical attention if your child displays signs or symptoms. According to WebMD, the following are signs and symptoms of dry drowning and secondary drowning:

• Coughing;
• 
  Extreme fatigue;
• 
  Chest pain; and
• 
  Difficulty breathing.

If your child sustained injuries in a drowning incident caused by another person’s negligence, an experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to discuss your case.

See Related Blog Posts: Link Between Drowning Accidents and California Drought Summer Safety and Drowning Accidents

(photo courtesy of Scott Liddell)