San Diego Accident Blog

It’s summer and you know what that means:  kids are out of school, kids are getting into mischief, and kids are giving themselves all kinds of personal injuries.

The New York Times recently reported about a new study that shows when one children’s injury occurs in a household, siblings are also at risk.  According to the article, there is that a condition called “post-traumatic arousal” and is an indicator of a re-occurring injury, not only in one child, but in their brothers and sisters, too.

If children’s injuries happen to one child, does it pass on to their siblings?

Keep your kids free from children's injuries this summer!

Post-traumatic arousal is part of of post-traumatic stress disorder, which can unbalance kids and might cause them to overreact if a children’s injury happens to one of their siblings.

Dr. Brian D. Johnston, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, studies large groups of children around the country.  He and his team have discovered that if a child is severely hurt — with an injury requiring hospitalization — then all children in that household are at high risk of getting hurt for the next three months.  Johnson’s research shows that medical treatment was necessary in nearly 20 percent of the families who’s son or daughter sustain a children’s injury or re-injured themselves badly enough in the following months.

Car accidents and drowning seem to be the biggest causes of wrongful deaths for kids 12-years-old and younger.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report two years ago saying that 9.2 million children received emergency room care every year for injuries unrelated to abuse in the time frame of 2000-2006.  This was the leading cause of fatalities in young boys and girls, with close to 12,000 wrongful deaths each year occurring from these types of accidents.

Personal injuries that are considered non-life threatening and send kids into the emergency room are most often from slip and falls, interaction with animals and insects, or being hit (or getting hit) with a hard object.  So, as a parent, should you be worried that if one child slips and falls down the stairs, another one is going to do the same?  Not necessarily.  The injuries reported in the study were all varied from one another — a little girl gets burned and her sister drops something on her foot, not the same exact injury for both kids.

The best course of action to take is to practice vigilance, regardless or not if children’s injuries are contagious among siblings.  If one of your children get injured, then be on the lookout for another injury coming in the next one to three months.  It may never arrive and that’s a good thing, because you were keeping track of your children every step of the way.

With the arrival of summer, children’s injuries are likely to increase as kids have more unsupervised free time on their hands.  Avoid injuries before they happen by knowing where your kids are playing, who they are playing with, and what hazards might be associated with their fun activities.

As the saying goes, “it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt.”

Contact us anytime if your child was hurt.  We are here to take your call day or night at 1-800-655-6585 for a FREE Consultation with a personal injury lawyers in San Diego or click here to submit your case for a FREE Online Review.  Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you owe nothing until we recover money at the end of your claim.