By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
Parents, teachers, caregivers, and day care and school administrators can better safeguard the living, play, and school space for children by installing important safety products like the Fingershield door hinge guard. This safety product is distributed through Fingershield Safety USA, a company based in St. Augustine (St. Johns County) Florida. I personally spoke to the CEO of the company, Geoff Moseley, a man committed to preventing finger and hand injuries to children. Mr. Moseley understands the dangers of unprotected door jams to small children. An important and inexpensive safety measure – the Fingershield door hinge guard – can help prevent these devastating and often times permanent disfiguring injuries. The Fingershield Safety USA web site even has video demonstrations showing the installation of the product.
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 
In Arizona and other cities throughout the United States, household appliances can be very dangerous to small children. What seems like a fun play area to an infant, toddler, or child can prove to be very dangerous or even deadly. The household appliance known as the dryer is not a playground or toy for a child. Once inside, a child can sustain serious personal injuries including head injuries. Parents and caregivers should keep children out of the laundry room and certainly out of the appliances. Some family members thought it was cute when the 1 year old was in the dryer. Again, the dryer is not a toy. For more information on this story, go to 
The Virginia legislature has struck down a bill that would have required health insurers to pay for the cost of therapy for autistic children. Similar legislation has been enacted in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
A Virginia Beach couple was arrested for leaving two children, ages 6 and 4, home alone without any supervision or babysitters. Julie Hammock and Clinton Harris, both employed by the United States Navy, left their children alone in the home. The 6 year old boy’s 1st grade teacher suspected that there was a problem at boy’s home. Thereafter, school officials called the police. The couple claimed that they did not have the money / funds for day care.
Children should respect their elders; however, no child should be physically harmed or beaten especially those under the age of 2. In Indianapolis, Indiana, Tayaun Chism (an 18 year old man) beat his girlfriend’s 14 month old toddler – Lilliana Goodman. Why did Mr. Chism beat this child? He beat the child because she allegedly disrespected Mr. Chism. The alleged act of disrespect was that the child was not eating her food as directed. What is the punishment for not eating food as directed? Mr. Chism took a belt to her for more than 1 hour. These heinous acts of abuse put the child in critical condition. The child is being treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
A day care center in Arkansas mistakenly and negligently served children windshield wiper fluid during snack time. Apparently, a day care center work had placed the blue windshield wiper fluid in the day care center’s refrigerator. Thereafter, the windshield wiper fluid was mistaken for a fruit juice or Kool Aid type of drink and then served to the children. The children ranged in ages from 2 to 7 years old. Doctors and toxicologist estimate that the children drank approximately one ounce of the fluid before realizing that it tasted wrong. The children were evaluated and treated at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. One child had to be admitted after blood samples showed elevated levels of methanol which is a highly toxic kind of alcohol that can cause serious personal injuries including death, coma, and blindness. The Arkansas Department of Human Resources will conduct an investigation into this incident.