Laundry Detergent Pods’ Risk To Children: Your Legal Options
The Sanders Firm is now offering free consultations for parents whose children have been harmed by laundry detergent pods. A recent report suggests that these household cleaning products “pose a serious poisoning risk to young children” and that hundreds of children have become seriously ill from the pods, mainly due to ingesting them.
If your child was among those children harmed, it may be time to consult a laundry pod poisoning lawyer at The Sanders Firm to understand your legal options.
Laundry pod lawyer available for consultation
The journal Pediatrics published data online on November 10 related to the dangers posed by the laundry pods, which are individually wrapped plastic packets of laundry detergent. The plastic outer coating dissolves in the course of a laundry cycle and the packaging has been marketed as considerably cleaner and more convenient than bottles of detergent that involve measuring and, sometimes, spills. Unfortunately, the small, bright colored objects often resemble candy to small children, who can be tempted to ingest them.
The study found that there were 17,230 laundry pod-related injuries involving small children reported between 2012 and 2013, with approximately 80% related to incidents in which children swallowed the pods. The majority of these cases involved children under the age of three.
The injuries, some of them very serious, appear to be the result of a pattern of accidents directly related to the design of the pods. Parents in this situation may want to consider a laundry detergent pod lawsuit. A no-charge, no-obligation meeting with a product liability lawyer at The Sanders Firm can provide more information about the logistics and possible benefits of this course of action.
A laundry detergent pod lawsuit may provide compensation
Of the 17,230 injuries reported in connection to the laundry detergent pods, the authors of the Pediatrics study found that there were more than 700 cases in which children had to be admitted to the hospital, required the services of the intensive care unit, in many cases in a coma, with approximately 100 children requiring intubation. In one unfortunate case, a 7-month old baby died of poisoning after ingesting the contents of the pod.
In addition to serious respiratory troubles and violent cases of vomiting, contact with the eyes meant serious irritation from chemical burns, even temporary loss of vision, or eye damage. Dr. Al Sacchetti, Chief of Emergency Services at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center (Camden, New Jersey) reports that the majority of injuries actually involve the eyes. Dr. Sacchetti is also a spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians.
A laundry pod product liability lawsuit may be the best course of action to recover damages due to laundry pod injuries, particularly in cases where poisoning or burn accidents resulted in extensive or permanent damages.
Although the dangers posed by the pods stand out more starkly due to the study, this is not the first time that the alarm has been sounded. Senator Chuck Schumer called for child proof packaging for the laundry pods in 2012 and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control requested that manufacturers address the issue (though they did not require new packaging). Although some companies have made changes, those who ignored the problem should be held accountable.
Consult with New York product liability lawyers
New York personal injury lawyers at The Sanders Firm have more that 45 years of experience defending the rights of parents and their children. We are available for consultations with parents who are concerned about their children in the wake of incidents involving dangerous laundry detergent pods and want to better understand their legal options.
Please call 1-800-FAIR-PLAY to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation with one of our laundry pod poisoning attorneys. Resources
- Forbes, Laundry Detergent Pods are a Poisonous Threat to Children https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2014/11/11/laundry-detergent-pods-are-a-poisonous-threat-to-children/
- Laundry Detergent Pods are a “Real Risk” to Children https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/health/laundry-pod-poisonings/index.html
