A toddler’s death from drinking liquid nicotine has been ruled an accident, according to recent reports. Albany police investigated the circumstances of Eli James Hotaling’s death and found that he died after swallowing the liquid used to refill electronic cigarettes. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that this is the first recorded death from such a source.
Both the mother and another adult were watching the child when the accident occurred. The mother’s sister has left a bottle of uncapped liquid nicotine on a low table. While the adults were busy, the boy drank the solution and was pronounced dead a short time later at a local hospital. Nicotine ingestion, which leads to cardiac arrhythmia, was listed as the cause of death.
Accidental Poisoning: A Common Cause of Childhood Death
In 2010, 838 children under the age of 19 died from poisoning, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 89 percent of these deaths occurred with children between the ages of 15 to 19, and more than 73 percent of the victims were male. Additionally, 130,301 children under the age of 19 were seen in hospital emergency rooms for accidental poisoning.
While poison accidents among children are relatively common, most poisonings do not occur with cleaning solutions or known toxins but rather with prescription medication. This is probably because most adults know that they should lock up poisons around children but do not think about the effects of prescription medication.
In 2011, there were 67,700 cases of accidental poisoning due to medication ingestion. For children 13 to 24 months, medication was the most common cause of poisoning deaths and injuries, accounting for 68 percent of all hospital visits. In cases in which the source of the medication is reported, 38 percent involved a grandparent’s medication, 31 percent the mother’s, 12 percent a sibling’s and eight percent the father’s.
What Can I Do If My Child Has Been Injured In A Poisoning Accident?
If your child was injured in a poisoning accident while under the care of another person, you may have a legal claim for damages against that individual. You may also have a claim if a substance was not clearly marked as dangerous and your child accidentally ingests it.
In order to learn more about your child’s rights and how you can collect compensation for his or her damages, contact the personal injury attorneys at the Fitzgerald Law Firm in New York.