Day Care Center Injuries

Day Care Center Injuries: Prevention = Protection

Parents accept their very young children will, from time to time, experience minor scrapes, cuts and maybe even the occasional bee sting. Indeed, even if you child-proof your house and are hyper-vigilant about keeping your child out of harm’s way, minor injuries are, unfortunately, going to happen. That’s just a part of growing up! 

Day Care Center Injuries are Unacceptable

However, if there’s one place that we expect to keep our children safe from serious injuries, its day care centers. We must be able to trust that the equipment is safe, that the staff is trained, and that the very worst thing that can happen when we pick up our child at the middle or end of the day, is the occasional minor scrape or cut. Tragically for some children and their families, that’s not always the case.    

Day Care Center Injury Example: Burned by a Metal Playground Slide  

Our firm settled a claim where a child at a day care center was allowed – unbelievably – to play on a very hot metal slide on a sizzling summer day. The child was burned badly. It was hard to imagine the pain and suffering that this child, and his family, went through. But what was even harder to imagine, was that this could happen in the first place.

Fortunately, the aggressive lawsuit claim we filed and settled in favour of our client sent a clear message to the defendants, and also to Georgia Bright from the Start day care centers across the state.

That message said: you have a legal and one might say even a sacred duty to protect the children in your care. You must do what’s necessary to prevent injuries. Whether that means getting rid of metal slides, making sure that staff is sufficiently trained, or doing anything else that is appropriate and required, you must do it. And if you fail in that duty, you WILL be held responsible and you WILL be required to provide compensation to the children and families who are harmed by your actions or inactions.

Other Day Care Center Injuries

Unfortunately, even if all of the metal slides in the country disappear – which is exactly what’s happening, finally – the problem of serious and severe day care injuries to children still exists. For example, in 2011 in the Pittsburgh, PA area, a 7-month old girl suffered very serious chemical burns to her abdomen, backside and legs after a day care center employee placed a diaper on her that had been soaked in Drano. And in the Toronto, Canada area, a 14-month old girl died after allegedly being shaken by a day care worker, who has since been charged with manslaughter.

These are just two of the terrifying and incomprehensible examples of serious injuries (and in some cases, fatal injuries) that happen in day care centers.

If your Child or Children have been Hurt, we WILL Help

Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of children. Unfortunately, accidents happen – and sometimes, those accidents are a result of negligence, incompetence, or irresponsible acts by people and organizations that we trust to keep our children safe. Other times, the injuries are a result of inadequate supervision and under-staffing. Whatever the cause, it’s critical to send a powerful message that these situations are NOT acceptable and thereARElegal consequences.

At Millar and Mixon, LLC. we’ve helped numerous families send that powerful message – one that will help other children remain safe. At the same time, we’ve helped these families recover fees for medical costs, loss of income to care for an injured child, pain and suffering, and other related costs.

If your child has been injured at a day care center or any other place, call us at us 24 hours a day at 770-477-6360. We’ll fight for your rights, and make sure that the parties responsible for your child’s injuries are held to account.