Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Anthony Ferguson, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
A two-year old Waterville, Maine boy suffered serious burns from a microwave oven fire at his home. It appears that the toddler placed nonmicrowaveable items such as a bottle of perfume and a metal fork into the microwave. A flash fire resulted when he started the microwave. The boy’s mother heard a pop and went downstairs to investigate. She found her son with clothing on fire. She patted the fire out. An ambulance transported the boy to Inland Hospital in Waterville. Once stabilized, he was flown to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston for further treatment of the personal injuries / burns suffered as a result of this fire.
In 2007, 35 Bluffton University baseball team players and their coaches were traveling on a bus to play in a game when their bus went off of an overpass in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven people were killed and 28 were injured. The bus went off of the overpass on an exit ramp where the Georgia Department of Transportation failed to install an important road sign at an HOV exit. The National Transportation Safety Board harshly criticized the Georgia DOT’s signs and found that the bus mistakenly turned into the exit lane.
Legislators / lawmakers in Connecticut have proposed increasing the minimum age to 18 for someone to handle an assault or machine gun style rifle or weapon. This proposed Connecticut assault weapon legislation is in direct response to the death of an 8 year old boy who shot himself with an Uzi at a gun fair in Westfield, Massachusetts last October w, while his father looked on. You can read about this most tragic story in a prior blog posts at 
What is a vehicle blind zone? What is a vehicle backover accident? Children in all States are at risk for injury or death from vehicle backover accidents. A vehicle blind zone is the area behind a vehicle that a person (the driver) cannot see from the driver’s seat. The higher and larger the vehicle – the larger the blind zone.
Distracted and negligent drivers cause accidents every day in various States. Many safety groups, parents, and child safety advocates would like to see laws banning the use of cell phone / mobile phones while driving. These proponents of changes in the law of many States believe that the banning of cell phone / mobile phones will lead to a decrease in distracted drivers as well as automobile accidents and trucking accidents with related personal injuries and wrongful deaths.
Parents and caregivers of children who receive compensation or monetary settlements for personal injury cases should pay attention to the issue of qualification for benefits. Typically, a special needs child receives federal and state benefits based on disability as well as income requirements. If a child receives the proceeds from a personal injury settlement, these funds in a standard bank account could disqualify the child from some of the government benefits in place prior to the injury. Government benefits of this nature include Medicaid and Social Security Income benefits.
In Mission Viejo, California, a 4 year old girl (Kayley Ishii) died as a result of blunt force trauma. Kayley apparently climbed into a front loading washing machine. Thereafter, it is suspected that her toddler brother may have hit a start switch or button. Since the entry into the washing machine was only 20 inches from the floor and the start button was accessible to a young child as well, this tragedy took place.
Although statistics reflect that the percentage of uninsured motorists has decreased in Wisconsin and nationally in the past few years, there is a concern that recent economic problems may result in a rise in the number of uninsured motorists. In a recent study conducted and released by the Insurance Research Council (IRC), it estimated that nationally in 2007 approximately 13.8 % of motorists were uninsured. The study provided data, by state, as to the percentage of uninsured motorists, with the highest being New Mexico and Mississippi, at 29% and 28%, respectively, and the lowest being Massachusetts and Maine, at 1% and 4%, respectively. Wisconsin’s estimated percentage of uninsured motorists in 2007 was 15%, ranking it in the highest third of uninsured motorists in the nation. The study found a strong correlation between the percent of uninsured motorists and the unemployment rate. To view the News Release, dated January 21, 2009, by the IRC, go to 
Investigators which included pediatric experts conducted an extensive study into the cause of injuries in Atlanta day care centers. While the study was conducted in 1988, its findings are still pertinent today in that the hazardous or dangerous areas in day care centers identified still persist today. These hazardous or dangerous areas that caused injuries to children in Atlanta Georgia day care centers including the following: