New Study Shows More Kids in the U.S. are Suffering Fatal Personal Injuries in Accidents
Almost all child injuries are preventable with proper safety precautions. Yet despite the fact that parents have greater access to information about child injury risks, a recent study suggests that there has been a “spike in deaths among U.S. children and teens in recent years,” according to an article in Reuters. These deaths have resulted from personal injury accidents and also from intentional acts of violence. The article cites “murder, suicide, car crashes, and addiction” as some of the primary reasons that more children in the country are dying.
Specifically, between the years 2013 and 2016, the death rate for kids between the ages of 10 and 19 rose by 12%. Until then, the rate of child injury deaths from personal injury accidents had been on the decline. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which conducted the study, fatal injuries now account for about 70% of all deaths among children aged 10 to 19, a rate that is “far outpacing fatalities from natural causes like cancer and heart disease.” The rate of death in 2016—the last year analyzed for the study—was approximately 33 child deaths out of 100,000, which also showed an increase from 2013 when the rate was approximately 30 deaths per 100,000. If your child has experienced an injury, talk to a child injury attorney about your options for filing a claim.
The rate of unintentional injury deaths and personal injury accidents declined substantially in the early 2000s, but it showed a 13% increase between 2013 and 2016. The most common unintentional injury deaths resulted from motor vehicle crashes, accidental poisoning, and drowning.
One of the most startling conclusions of the study is that deaths rose in almost every category—there was not a single reason that more child and teen deaths have been happening. According to Dr. Gary Smith, the president of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance, the study highlights the need for more public attention to injury prevention, especially in children and teens.
Tips to Prevent Child Personal Injury Accidents
As the recent study shows, there are many ways in which child injuries and fatalities occur. A safety tip sheet from SafeKids.org provides the following tips for parents to help prevent child injuries:
- Make sure your child or teen always wears a seat belt;
- Secure all furniture and TVs in your home to prevent a tip-over personal injury accident in which a child or teen can be crushed by a piece of heavy furniture;
- Regularly check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms;
- Identify any places in your home where your child or teen can access medicine and secure the areas;
- Learn more about concussions and sports-related head injuries, as well as methods of prevention for youth athletes; and
- Avoid distracted driving and distracted walking, setting an example for your teenager.
If your child experienced a serious personal injury accident as a result of another party’s carelessness or intentional wrongdoing, you should speak with a child injury attorney about filing a claim.
