What are the Legal Rights of a Child who Chokes at a Day Care Center? What are the Responsibilities of a Day Care Center?
In Florida day care centers as well as day care centers throughout the nation, there is a common risk present no matter the size or type of day care centers. This is the risk of choking on small objects. It is well known that children are curious. Furthermore, children have poor safety awareness especially when it comes to putting objects in the mouth like toy parts, household items, and coins. Furthermore, some foods are notoriously dangerous to toddlers and infants like hot dogs, grapes, hard vegetables and fruits, and other items. Because of the known risks of chocking, day care centers have a duty and responsibility to keep all hazardous items away from the reach of children. It is acceptable for a day care center to keep change / coins not he premises but it is quite another thing if the coins are within the reach of children. It is certainly quite worse even if the children (toddlers and infants) are given coins or other small objects to play with. One coin or small hard object can lead to a choking incident which, in turn, can cause serious personal injuries, brain injuries, and even death.
Let’s take a look at another example. A 2 year old is playing with legos in the day care center. The lego set is recommended for children 4 and older. There are a number of small pieces that the child has access to in the lego box. The child puts one of the small pieces in his mouth and chokes on the object. Fire rescue is called and the child is rushed to the hospital. The child is in ICU for 10 days. The child ultimately recovered from the incident but only have 6 months of treatment and care. The whole incident and resulting damages and harm could have been avoided with better supervision and with the removal of the dangerous items from the reach of this 2 year old child.
The book - Florida Day Care Center Injuries - Legal Rights of the Injured Child - Building Blocks of Knowledge for Parents - has sections on Supervision, Incident Reports, Emergency Procedures, Indoor Facilities, Outdoor Facilities, and other topics. You can get this book for free at Florida Day Care Center Injuries.