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Burn Injuries Occurring To Children Can Be Catastrophic

Serious burn injuries are often catastrophic, no matter what their cause. Not only do serious burn injuries cause an immense amount of pain, they also usually require several surgeries to treat. These surgeries can be expensive and the recovery time can consume years of a person’s life.

Burin injuries can be especially tragic when they occur to children. According to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), burn injuries are one of the leading causes of accidental injury at home among children.

For children under the age of 5, risk factors that can cause burn injuries include playing with dangerous products such as matches, lighters and fireplaces. Because these products are inherently dangerous, they are often child-proofed; however, that is not always the case.

When it comes to older children, burn injuries often occur during risky play for boys and kitchen and bathroom activities for girls. Fireworks also pose a major risk of burn injuries to older kids, which is why there is an age limit imposed on their sale.

Ultimately, the number of burn injuries occurring the children has been on the decline over the past few decades and one of the reasons for that can be traced to personal injury and products liability lawsuits.

Over the years, these lawsuits have resulted in flammable consumer products such as toys and pajamas being pulled off the market and federally regulated. They have also resulted in a greater focus being placed on burn injuries and their prevention in general.

Source: lpch.org, “Facts About Burn Injury,” last accessed Oct. 8, 2013