Toddlers killed by toppling TVs in their homes are tragic deaths that can be avoided. A recent study found that the numbers of televisions falling on children and seriously injuring or killing them is still on the rise.
As reported by CTV Winnipeg on September 29, a recent study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, found that the percentages of injured or killed children, especially toddlers between the age of 1 and 3, continue to increase. Most often involved in the accidents are flat-screen TVs which can be found in millions of homes.
According to Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, “the first point of contact as the TV comes down, is on the child’s head. That is in fact the cause of death in over 95 per cent of kids who die from these injuries.”
Toddlers killed by toppling TVs was already the subject of a 2012 report by Safe Kids Worldwide which stated that in the last 10 years, the number of child deaths due to falling TVs had risen 31 percent. “Every three weeks, a child dies from a television tipping over and nearly 13,000 more children are injured each year in the U.S.” Both the Canadian and U.S. reports indicate that the accidents occur when toddlers explore the world around them. What more fascinating object is there to explore than those tempting images on a TV screen? Spending just a few minutes to secure a TV safely to the wall can prevent toddlers from getting hurt by toppling TVs.