South Carolina Child Injury Lawyer Blog

In Friday's Post and Courier your Charleston child injury lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC read an article concerning an alleged child neglect incident that happened a week ago today. Last Tuesday afternoon, North Charleston police officers found a 9-year-old boy walking alone along the busy International Boulevard, according to the article. When police asked the youngster why he was by himself he responded by telling the officers that his mother had left him at the Walmart Supercenter on nearby Center Pointe Drive.

The boy also told officers he was making his way toward a library on Dorchester Road. When asked by police where he lived, he told the officers he lived in Dorchester Village, a mobile home park off of Dorchester Road. Then the officers kindly put the little guy in the back of their patrol car to give him a ride home.

Upon arriving to the 9-year-old boy's home, they found the mother lying on a couch. When the mother was first asked where the boy was, she said her son was at home. According to the police report, the officer "asked her to explain to [him] why [her son] was in the rear of [his] patrol car."

Continue reading " North Charleston Mother Accused of Child Neglect " »

Back in March of this year, your Charleston child injury and death attorneys remember hearing about, but not posting an entry on, a horrific accident involving a miniature train ride. The accident occurred in Spartanburg's Cleveland Park when the miniature train derailed and flipped into a ditch. Now, according to authorities, excessive speed was to blame for the accident that killed a 6-year-old boy and injured dozens of others.

Thanks to a video shot by one of the young passengers investigators were able to determine the mini train was traveling more than 20 mph, which is nearly three times the recommended speed for such a ride. One investigator and accident reconstruction specialist said, "Too Fast. That was the complete cause of the accident, just too fast."

But, the attorney for the train's operator says his client is not totally to blame for the fatal accident. According to the operator's attorney, the speedometer on the train wasn't working properly and his client was never informed that there was a maximum speed he was not to exceed, and for the cause of this accident to be solely operator error, his client would have had to do something he was told not to do. Furthermore, he claims the device intended to restrict the train to a safe speed was never set correctly.

Continue reading " New Developments in Spartanburg Miniature Train Accident that Killed One and Injured Dozens " »

The Charleston prescription drug injury lawyers found that according to a study conducted by the Medical University of South Carolina, doctors and pharmacists may be giving babies and toddlers overdoses of prescription painkillers, says an article in yesterday's Post and Courier. The research was done by the Division of General Pediatrics at MUSC, and they hope the study's findings will lead to more cautious and possibly automatic drug dispensing. The division will now study whether these overdoes led to any harm or serious child injuries.

The research, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Denver, studied South Carolina Medicaid records (from 2000 to 2006) of the top 19 narcotic-containing drugs prescribed to newborns up to age 3.

The findings were as follows. 4.1 percent of actual prescriptions were overdoses. About 40 percent of overdose prescriptions were dispensed to babies 2 months old and younger, and only 3 percent of prescriptions for children older than a year. Of all the overdose prescriptions, the amount of narcotic drug dispensed was an average of 42 percent more than expected.

The study assumed each child's weight was in the 97th percentile for his/her weight. The MUSC Division of General Pediatrics' research was done using a four-year, $508,000 federal grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

According to the Director of MUSC's Division of General Pediatrics, narcotics (codeine and hydrocodone) are prescribed to babies as a cough suppressant and painkiller, but these can be dangerous to youngsters because of their sedative effects. These effects increases the risk of dehydration because infants and toddler do not wake up enough to eat and drink while under the influence of these drugs. Severe side effects of narcotics on babies and toddler could lead to breathing problems and death.

Continue reading " MUSC Study Has Alarming Findings on Babies and Toddlers " »

Charleston child injury lawyers recently took notice of a study released by The Partnership at Drugfree. The study's finding were quite astonishing, and a bit disturbing, teens today see downing 5 or more alcoholic drinks almost every day as not a big deal. When teens were asked if they see a "great risk" in consuming that amount of alcohol on regular basis, 45 percent of the teen respondents didn't see it as a big problem.

While this study shows that today's teens do not view heavy drinking as a serious threat, the percentage of teens drinking is actually on the decline. An article on the study reported by the Post and Courier quotes the former chairman of the American Medical Association as saying, "It's important that we not lose sight of the progress our country has made in fighting underage drinking," and, "U.S. government data shows underage drinking and binge drinking are at record low levels."

But, even with this progress, the car accident attorneys at Howell and Christmas, LLC, being parents themselves, want to stress the importance of being involved with your children as a means of protecting your child from destructive behavior. The earlier kids start drinking the more likely they are to get involved in other unsafe behaviors.

Continue reading " South Carolina Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys Talk Teens and Drinking " »