Pool Safety Category Archives — DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog Published by Washington, D.C. Personal Injury Lawyers

June 1, 2021

Whoa, summer sneaked in! Here’s how to make it a safe, healthy, fun time

In these uncertain times, the start of summer — marked unofficially by the just-passed, long Memorial Day weekend — may have caught more than a few of us by surprise. Seasonal health and safety precautions, however, should be well considered and carefully carried out, especially by parents.

All of us, for example, must step up our safeguards against damages caused by exposure to the sun, reported Jane Brody, the longtime health and wellness columnist for the New York Times. She noted that she, like many people, talked a good game about avoiding peak burn times of the day and slathering on sunscreen. She didn’t always follow through, though she has recommitted to doing so for a reason, she wrote:

“I hereby pledge to do better this year, albeit late in the game. A new report from a dermatology team at Kaiser Permanente health care centers in California has prompted me to reform. The team, headed by the epidemiologist Lisa Herrinton in Oakland, followed nearly half a million patients seen at the centers for up to 10 years. Half had already developed one or more actinic keratosis, a precancerous rough, scaly skin lesion caused by years of unprotected sun exposure. As you might expect, these lesions most often form on the face, ears, back of the hands, forearms, scalp and neck and are — or should be — routinely removed when found by dermatologists to prevent progression to cancer. The lesions are markers of sun damage and can serve as an early warning system for people at risk of developing cancer somewhere on sun-exposed skin. While the hazard is greatest for people with light skin, blue eyes, freckles, or red hair, having a dark complexion is not a free pass. Tanning, not just burning, is a form of sun damage.”

June 28, 2020

Some thoughts about Independence Day in the thrall of a pandemic

by Patrick A. Malone

The United States heads into a long weekend celebrating 244 years of its independence in the deepening thrall of a microscopic killer. And political partisans, with their failure to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, will push further still in the days ahead to divide what has been a remarkable, diverse union of states. Unlike virtually every other advanced country on earth, the pandemic in the United States has become politicized and partisan, to the detriment of our nation.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 2.5 million in this country, killing at least 127,000 — more individuals than the U.S. casualties in World War I or the combined deaths the nation tallied in prolonged campaigns, combined, in Vietnam, Korea, and Iraq. The disease also may be far more widespread than believed — an even more worrisome possibility, health officials warn.

Despite the unfounded and magical assertions by President Trump, the summer has offered no letup to the predicted sickness and dying.

June 19, 2020

Potomac River tragedies offer warning about summer water safety hazards

by Patrick A. Malone

At least three recent deaths in the DC area offer a grim reminder about the summer’s heat and the risks of drowning. With the Covid-19 pandemic changing the easy and relaxed availability of public and supervised pools and other cool water recreation spots, will this be a harbinger of needless tragedies?

Here’s hoping not.

But authorities have issued stern warnings already about swimming in the Potomac River, where they caution that the currents run stronger and the waters can be chillier than casual enthusiasts may expect. It is illegal to swim in the Anacostia and Potomac, primarily due to pollution concerns. As the DCist news site reported, though:

June 7, 2019

In season of higher risk for kids, cautions about mowers and pool chemicals

by Patrick A. Malone

As the nation slips into summer and the statistical 100 deadliest days for kids, there are some timely reminders about keeping youngsters safer around swimming pools and the chemicals used with them and protecting them from the harms of riding mowers when the devices are run in reverse.

The Red Cross, of course, reminds that “10 people die each day from unintentional drowning, and on average two of them are younger than 14. Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children ages one to four than any other cause except birth defects. And among those 1-14, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency care for nonfatal submersion injuries.”

The safety group, which urges parents to supervise kids closely near water and get them swimming lessons and instruction in ways to prevent water-borne mishaps, underscores that little kids drown most often at home — in pools, hot tubs, and spas, but also buckets, bath seats, wells, cisterns, septic tanks, decorative ponds, and toilets. Youngsters 5 and older drown more often in ponds, lakes, and the ocean.

September 28, 2018

In renewed call for baby walker ban, a reminder how hazards hang around

by Patrick A. Malone

Little ones may prove to be a handful to get around, but grownups need to be wary of products to make babies mobile.

Child safety advocates have not only re-upped their warnings, in particular, about infant walkers, but based on a new study of data from hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits between 1990 and 2014, experts have called on federal regulators anew to ban the manufacture and sale of this product across the country.

Researchers found that “more than 230,000 children under 15 months old were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments for skull fractures, concussions, broken bones and other injuries related to infant walkers,” National Public Radio reported.

September 4, 2018

Pool safety in question after near-drowning in DC public pool

by Patrick A. Malone

After a 7-year-old girl was found unconscious at the bottom of a public swimming pool in northeast Washington, D.C., on Labor Day, pool patrons immediately questioned how it was that another swimmer, and not a lifeguard, was the rescuer who saw her and pulled her to safety.

The lifeguards did administer resuscitation to the girl, who woke up at the scene and then was taken to a hospital.

Shawn Zeller, a witness who says he called 911, reported that when he arrived at the Langdon Park pool a short time before the event, both lifeguard stands were empty. He said that a few minutes after 4 p.m., the girl was pulled by another patron from the bottom of the shallow end of the pool, directly in front of one of the lifeguard stands, which in the meantime did have a guard sitting in it, who apparently didn’t see the girl in front of him.