When young students are required to use certain devices or objects in science classes for experiments, those students could be at risk of suffering a serious burn injury. Anytime science classroom experiments require students to use flammable materials, a serious fire could start and students could suffer disfiguring and severe burn injuries. A recent report from CBS 8 San Diego discusses a burn injury case in which a sixth-grader in the Encinitas Union School District sustained life-threatening burn injuries. That student’s family recently filed a lawsuit against the school, and that claim highlights the serious dangers of particular classroom activities.

Science Classroom Experiment Resulted in Face and Neck Burn Injuries

According to the CBS 8 San Diego report, the recent claim against Encinitas Union School District centers around a 13-year-old student, Priest Rivera, who “suffered burns to his face, neck, and chest after a school experiment allegedly went wrong.” The family alleges that the Encinitas Union School District is responsible for the injuries according to legal theories of negligence, and negligent supervision and training. As a result of the injuries, the student required four surgeries and spent one week in the burn unit at UCSD. The student’s complaint alleges that he ultimately suffered “severe and permanent injuries.” How did the burn injuries happen?

The 13-year-old student was in a Capri Elementary sixth-grade classroom shortly before school let out for the summer last June. The student and his other classmates were participating in a science experiment that is commonly known as “black snake” or “carbon snake.” The experiment involves igniting a mixture of baking soda and sugar, which results in the melted sugar pushing out and “forming a snake-like ash.” According to the student, the experiment was not working as it was intended, and he indicated that “the science teacher kept pouring more rubbing alcohol to make the flame build up more.” The student’s head and neck caught on fire, and students around him reportedly said, “he’s on fire.”

Burn Injuries can Occur in Any Science Classroom When Precautions are Not Taken

While this Encinitas case highlights a serious accident that happened right in Encinitas, it is certainly not the first of its kind. Shortly after Priest Rivera suffered burn injuries in Encinitas last June, a former high school student in New York won a $60 million verdict for a burn injury claim arising out of a chemistry classroom experiment. According to an article in The New York Times, in July 2019, a Manhattan jury found the New York City Department of Education and the student’s teacher “liable for an accident that left much of his body scarred from third-degree burns.

In a Beacon High School chemistry classroom, “a large fireball exploded when an experienced science teacher, Anna Poole, conducted an experiment intended to show how salts change color when exposed to methanol.” The experiment is commonly known as “the Rainbow,” and it is known to have caused at least two other accidents in science classrooms across the U.S. in recent years. The accident caused a large fire, and the student who won the lawsuit was “caught in the flames.” The third-degree burns were so severe that the student “is no longer able to sweat through some parts of his body.” He required “Extensive skin graft surgeries” and spent a total of five months in the hospital.

Contact a Burn Injury Lawyer in Encinitas

Burn injuries can have a variety of causes. If you suffered burn injuries caused by another party’s negligence, you should speak with a burn injury lawyer about your case. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about filing a claim.

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Eight high school football players in the country have already died from sports-related injuries sustained this season. With increased focus across the nation on the risks of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and high school sports, officials in California have decided to take a closer look at the future of high school football in our state. According to a recent article in the Contra Costa Times, in response to football fatalities, “the administrator who oversees high school athletics in California raised concerns this week about the sport’s future.

Critical Juncture in High School Football

Does high school football have a future in the San Diego area? Or do the risks of traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries (SCIs), and other serious wounds outweigh student and parent interest in allowing the sport to continue? Roger Blake, the executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), suggested that we may not see football being played at high schools in a handful of years: “I think honestly—and I say this in all sincerity—I think high school football, we’re at a critical juncture in the next two to three years.”

What could lead the administrator to shut down football programs at local high schools? Blake explained that the CIF is “going to have to watch and look at the medical science and see what the community says about the future.” It is not just California schools that could put an end to high school football. Blake emphasized that school districts and athletics programs across the country are all at the same “critical juncture.”

Keeping Sports-Related Injuries in Perspective

While it is possible that the CIF could reevaluate the risks and reward of high school football in the coming years, Blake emphasized that it is important for parents and school officials to keep the number of fatal sports-related accidents in perspective. As he explained, there are “more kids involved in tragic accidents in cars at 15 years old than the 1.1 million high school football players playing.” In other words, more students sustain deadly injuries in car accidents each year—by far—than do students on football fields. Yet that fact alone cannot be enough to maintain support for a sport that may be putting youth athletes at unnecessary risk of injury.

Blake indicated that the CIF wants to focus on ways to make the game safer for teenagers in California high schools. While the CIF pays close attention to medical reports about sports-related concussions, TBIs, and other catastrophic injuries. The focus of the CIF, however, remains on making football (and other contact sports) safer without eradicating such athletics programs altogether. The article noted that, while Blake discussed the CIF’s position on sports-related injuries and high school football, another young player sustained fatal injuries on the football field.

Sports-related injuries can be debilitating and even deadly. Football players are at serious risk of suffering traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other catastrophic injuries on the field. In many cases, these injuries could have been prevented. If your child suffered a severe sports-related injury, you may be able to file a claim for compensation. You should discuss your case with an aggressive San Diego brain injury lawyer as soon as possible. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about our services.

See Related Blog Posts: New Report on Football-Related Brain Injuries and CTE https://www.northcountyinjurylawyers.com/2015/09/would-a-soccer-heading-ban-end-traumatic-brain-injuries.html