According to Oseana Bratton, a nurse at Rady Children’s Hospital, “six cases of young children nearly drowning in a 48-hour period may seem like a lot, but it’s not that uncommon this time of year, and there’s plenty more hot weather ahead.” Are parents and caregivers keeping an appropriately watchful eye?

One-year-old Gabriel Clark, his four-year-old sister, and the children’s nanny were swimming in a neighbor’s pool in Oceanside. According to the article, “it was just another day for his parents, both of them at work, until his mom Karen got a heart-stopping text.” The nanny texted Gabriel’s mother with a “terrifying text” that simply said “please call me.” The nanny had placed Gabriel in a flotation device—“the kind where his feet were in the water.” Karen told San Diego News 6 that the nanny reportedly “turned away for just a few seconds to help four-year-old Mia jump into the pool.”

In the brief moment during which the nanny turned her attention away from young Gabriel, he “had just tried to get out, so he wasn’t totally out, but his head was submerged,” according to the victim’s mother. When the nanny removed Gabriel from the water, “he was blue and not breathing.” The nanny performed CPR on Gabriel. When emergency medical responders arrived, Gabriel was breathing on his own again.

Though Gabriel was okay in the end, secondary drowning can be a serious—and often deadly—result of a near-drowning. As a precaution, Gabriel stayed in the pediatric intensive care unit at Rady Children’s Hospital overnight.

Unintentional Drownings: Keeping Kids Safe

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately ten people suffer fatal drowning injuries each day in the U.S. About 20 percent of those victims are kids under the age of 15. The CDC emphasizes that drowning is the fifth-leading cause of unintentional injury death in our country. Those figures do not include people who die in boating-related accidents.

To prevent unintentional drownings, it is important to know the risk factors:

• Males are much more likely than females to die from drowning. In fact, about 80 percent of fatal drowning victims are males.
• Children between the ages of one and four years old are at greatest risk of drowning. About one-third of accident related fatalities of children in that age group are caused by drowning.

According to the CDC, important prevention measures include the following:

• Learn to swim, or ensure that your children have swimming skills before you go near or into the water;
• Learn CPR;
• Wear a lifejacket or other flotation device;
• Always make sure children are supervised when they are in the water or around water;
• Teach children to use the buddy system when in the pool or at the beach;
• Always avoid drinking alcohol before swimming.

If your child died in a drowning accident, it is important to talk to an experienced San Diego wrongful death attorney. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn how we can assist you.

Photo Credit: taylorschlades via morgueFile See Related Blog Posts: Child Drowning Accident in San Diego Child Pool Drowning Figures Released by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Details of the Recent Drowning Accident

When Lindsay Kujawa took her son Ronin to an outdoor pool party and turned her back “for maybe five seconds,” the toddler fell into the water, according to ABC News and Good Morning America. Kujawa explained that she immediately pulled Ronin out of the water “after about 20 seconds,” and the young boy “seemed unscathed.” Kujawa specifically emphasized that her son hadn’t turned blue and didn’t seem to be choking on water. As a result, she assumed he was just fine and that the tumble into the pool hadn’t caused any injuries.

However, when Ronin fell into the water, some of the fluid got into his lungs, which “prevented the tiny air sacs from moving oxygen into the bloodstream.” Shortly thereafter, the toddler “was having difficulty breathing.” Without medical attention, in fact, “his heart could have stopped.” Ronin suffered from secondary drowning.

While secondary drowning isn’t especially common, according to Dr. Paul Pepe, who is chair of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, “it does occur.” Indeed, Pepe emphasized that “even children who are resuscitated and rushed to the emergency room after falling in a pool can develop pulmonary edema in the first three or four hours after taking in water.” As a result, if your child sustains a fall into a pool and potentially takes in water, you should visit an emergency room, particularly if you notice any breathing problems, coughing, or general lethargy.

Secondary Drowning and Child Injuries

The recent drowning accident in San Diego involved secondary drowning. What exactly is secondary drowning? According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), secondary drowning, or “near-drowning,” is a syndrome that occurs after immersion in water. In medical terms, it’s a “deterioration of pulmonary function” that happens after a child has been immersed in a pool, for example.

Why is it so dangerous? For one, it happens after most parents assume their kids are in the clear. An article released by the NIH emphasizes that symptoms of secondary drowning are “usually rapid,” but they’re often “characterized by a latent period of one to 48 hours of relative respiratory well-being.” In other words, a child can have no symptoms of secondary drowning immediately after being immersed in water, but life-threatening symptoms can appear up to 48 hours after the incident.

Drowning accidents happen far too often in the San Diego area, and victims often sustain serious and life-threatening injuries. If you or a loved one has been injured in a drowning accident, you may be able to seek compensation for those injuries. An experienced California drowning accident lawyer can examine the details of your case today.

Photo Credit: *MarS via Compfight cc See Related Blog Posts: Child Pool Drowning Figures Released by Consumer Product Safety Commission Diving Fatality at La Jolla Shores