Defective Baby Products Attorney in Boston

While most parents thoroughly research the products they purchase for their infants and young children, even the most cautious parents may unknowingly purchase an unsafe or defective product.

Unfortunately, many parents do not realize the danger of a baby product until it is too late. While no sum of money can compensate you for a serious injury to your young child, our Boston defective baby product attorneys can help relieve the burden of medical bills and expensive therapies that your child may need. By bringing a product liability claim against a negligent manufacturer, you could prevent another child from suffering a similar injury.

If your infant or young child has been the victim of unsafe baby furniture, equipment, or toys, Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers can help. Our child injury attorneys have successfully represented parents and caregivers whose children have been harmed by defective baby products.

We encourage you to contact our law firm for a free legal consultation. Our "no-win, no-pay" policy means we only get paid when we win your case and recover money for your child.

All consumer products should be safe in design and manufacture and free of defects. Items intended for use by babies, toddlers, and other small children are supposed to go through a stringent testing system to ensure that they are safe. In addition, manufacturers must provide consumers with clear instructions and warnings and specify the appropriate age range for the item. For example, while a toy may be perfectly safe for an older child, it could pose a choking hazard when handled by a toddler.

When a product is defective or lacks adequate instructions or warnings, the manufacturer, distributor, or even a retailer like Target, Walmart, or Costco could be held liable.

While a wide range of baby products can cause injury to infants and young children, here is a list of some products that can be especially dangerous:

1. Cribs, bassinets, and bedding: Cribs should have a tight-fitting mattress to prevent babies from getting trapped between the mattress and the crib. Slats should be about the width of a soda can so that a baby cannot squeeze through, and corner posts should not be more than 1/16th of an inch high so that a baby's clothing cannot catch on them. When cribs have loose or broken hardware, babies may be able to wedge their heads in between the slats and suffocate. Soft, plush items such as bumper pads, sleep positioners, and certain Boppy loungers also present suffocation hazards.
2. Baby swings, gliders, soothers, and rockers: When babies fall asleep in these devices, their heads can flop forward and interfere with their breathing. Children whose airways become obstructed in this manner suffer from a condition known as positional asphyxiation. Child safety experts say these inclined sleepers are unsafe for infant sleep due to the risk of suffocation. Babies can also become tangled up in the straps or suffocate in the soft padding. Fisher-Price and other baby equipment manufacturers have recalled specific models following reports of infant deaths.
3. Slings and baby carriers: Parents are often fond of these items because they allow them to carry their children close to their bodies. However, a child can fall to the ground when a sling or carrier has defective clasps. In addition, newborns can asphyxiate if the carrier is too tight.
4. Car seats and baby carriers: Children should always ride in a car seat when traveling in a motor vehicle. However, car seats with loose straps, faulty clips, or inadequate padding may not keep a child safe when a sudden stop or car crash occurs.
5. Baby strollers: Strollers with wheel locks that fail or buckles that come undone are unsafe. Children can fall out or pinch their arms or legs in the collapsing equipment. Likewise, when jogging strollers malfunction, they can overturn, causing their occupants to spill out onto the hard sidewalk or road.
6. Highchairs: As with other baby products, highchairs should not have any sharp parts. When highchairs are unstable or have defective locking systems, children may fall and sustain serious injuries, including brain injuries.
7. Dressers: Dressers and other tall furniture should come with equipment to anchor them to a wall. When they do not, top-heavy furniture, appliances, and televisions can fall on top of a small child, causing severe or fatal injuries.
8. Toys: Toys with small, detachable parts can cause a child to choke. Hazardous toys often have magnets or button-type batteries that can burn a child's esophagus. Toys with sharp edges or parts can cause lacerations. Lead-tainted toys can poison small children. Even teethers and pacifiers can be defective and pose a choking hazard. One government agency reports that more than 200,000 kids are treated yearly at hospital emergency rooms in Massachusetts and other states for toy-related injuries.
9. Clothing: Children's clothing should not have buttons, snaps, tags, or other small pieces that can detach and find their way into a child's mouth. Strings on clothing are a strangulation hazard. Sleepwear should meet federal flammability requirements.
10. Bath seats: These items are dangerous because they give parents a false sense of security. When a parent stops paying attention to a baby in a tub for even a few seconds, the consequences can be catastrophic. Bath seats that can tip over when used can lead to infant drownings.
11. Baby food or formula: Certain baby formulas have been linked to a fatal condition known as necrotizing enterocolitis. Tainted food or toxic formula can cause vulnerable infants, including premature infants, to become sick and develop life-threatening health problems.

If you think you have a defective or dangerous baby product or toy in your house, take it away from your child. It is always a good idea to be extra cautious when it comes to your family's health and safety.

You can search the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website to see if the product has been recalled. Unfortunately, baby product recalls are a common occurrence. Even reputable baby product makers such as Fisher-Price, Graco, IKEA, Baby Trend, Evenflo, Infantino, Playtex, Boppy, Enfamil, and Similac have recalled items over the years.

If a defective baby product has harmed your child, the most important thing you can do is make sure your child receives proper medical treatment and follow all the doctor's recommendations.

Document your child's injuries by taking pictures or videos throughout the healing process. Save all documentation related to the defective product and the faulty item itself. For example, hold on to all receipts, packaging, instructions, and warnings.

You will want to partner with an experienced product liability attorney as soon as possible to protect your child's legal rights. First, your attorney will perform an investigation to identify all parties that may be responsible. A lawyer will also help you file a claim and negotiate a settlement. If the settlement offer is low, your attorney can file a lawsuit on your behalf and fight to ensure you receive all compensation available under Massachusetts law.

You may be able to hold a daycare or school liable if your child's injury occurred while the child was under its care. Daycares have a duty to ensure that their premises are safe. They should regularly inspect all equipment so that it is safe and appropriate for use and should never use recalled baby equipment. Employees should know what to do in the event of an emergency. For example, they should receive training on properly administering CPR and what to do if a child is choking. Urgent care is critical as brain cells can start dying after being cut off from oxygen for less than five minutes.

Similarly, a hotel, motel, Airbnb, or some other property owner could be held liable under premises liability laws if an accident involving a defective baby product occurred on their property.

In Massachusetts, accident victims have three years from the date of injury to file a product liability claim.

Babies do not generally suffer the same types of injuries as older children or adults. For example, an infant's bones are more pliable and not as easy to break. Babies who fracture a bone usually do so following a fall, such as a fall from a highchair or another elevated object.

Here is a list of some typical injuries that babies and toddlers often suffer after an accident involving a defective baby product or toy:

• Cuts and bruises
• Puncture wounds
• Crush injuries
• Abrasions and burns
• Brain injuries
• Choking, strangulation, and suffocation
• Wrongful death

Head trauma caused by a blow to the head or a fall from heights can cause traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Children with TBIs may require special care for the rest of their lives.

To learn more about how our defective baby product attorneys can help with an injury or wrongful death claim, contact Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers today at (617) 777-7777 or via our electronic form.