LAP ONLY BELT INJURIES TO SPINAL CORD, HEAD & BOWELS

Lap belt only type of seat belts can cause serious abdominal injuries, spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, quadriplegia and even death. Cars with lap only belts are dangerous and should be recalled. No recall is forthcoming  due to the extreme cost of such a recall. Until the last car with a defective lap only belt is off the highway, then countless more children and adults will be seriously injured as a result of an engineering blunder.

The below case are excerpts from a case study from George Washington University School of Medicine that explains the serious nature of internal injuries from lap belt to children:

"...The patient's abdominal CT scan showed free air anteriorly, a sign of bowel perforation which mandates emergent surgery. This patient was taken expediently to the OR and underwent an exploratory laparotomy. The peritoneal fluid was minimally bloody and, upon inspection, the small bowel was found to be completely transected at the level of the ileocecal valve. No other abdominal injuries were found, and all other organs, including the spleen, were intact. The bowel was repaired primarily. Interestingly, this patient also was found to have a Meckel's diverticulum, which appeared to contain ectopic tissue when palpated. This was also removed. The patient has a prolonged ileus following surgery but otherwise did well and was discharged home within a week.

Pediatric child restraint (car seat), booster seat and seat belt use in the US are currently under intense investigation. An enormous study out of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in coordination with State Farm Automobile Insurance Company, involving nearly 12,000 motor vehicle accidents and data on over 8,000 children involved in accidents, has generated a massive amount of data on pediatric MVA trauma. Encouragingly, ninety-five percent of all children were restrained while traveling in an automobile at the time of a crash. Somewhat more startling was the fact that many of these children are improperly belted in. While the majority of children less than 3 years old and greater than 9 years old are correctly restrained, children aged 4-8 are properly belted in less than 29% of the time (at best - age 3), with less than 1% of five year olds correctly belted into booster seats.

These startling numbers correlate with a high relative injury rate among children involved in MVA's. Most of the improperly restrained children in our patient's age range (4 yrs) are belted into seat belts (lap belts) rather than into booster seats. These children are more likely to suffer significant head injury (relative risk 4.2, compromising 51% of all significant injuries), as well as injuries to the face and extremities. This is likely because these children are more likely to (1) "jackknife and hit their heads again their knees or the car interior, or (2) be ejected from their seats. Although relatively few children involved in MVA's suffer serious abdominal injuries, ALL of the children who did have abdominal injuries were improperly restrained by lap belts, underscoring the fact that improper restraint is actually dangerous.

Small bowel and mesenteric injuries following MVA may be difficult to diagnose. One study with an adult population showed that patients with such injuries present with abdominal pain 75% of the time and shock 34% of the time. Ultrasound in the ER is diagnostic in 52% of cases, CT scan in 41% of cases. Peritoneal lavage contained blood in 69% and bowel contents in 67% of those later found to have bowel perforations.

Our patient presented with abdominal pain, a distended abdomen, and an abdominal bruise suspicious for significant abdominal injury. However, as is common with many pediatric trauma patients, our patient was not cooperative and unable to provide any history. The CT scan showed subtle free air. At laparotomy, the transected area was relatively neat, with minimal abdominal contamination, as so the decision was made to repair the bowel primarily rather than create a stoma and re-anastamose at a later time....".

Sources:

Winston, FK, Durbin, DR, Kallan MJ, et al. The Danger of Premature Graduation to Seatbelts for Young Children. Pediatrics. June 2000, 105(6)

Pikoulis, E, Delis, S, Psalidas, N et al. Presentation of Blunt Small Intestinal and Mesenteric Injuries. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. March 2000, 82(2) 

LAP BELT INJURIES & DEATHS - TALK TO A LAWYER

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or died as a result of a lap belt then you have a legal action against the seat belt and/or the automobile manufacturer of the vehicle. The Willis Law Firm is  very  familiar with this problem and has previously battled with many of the auto and seatbelt manufacturers concerning these defective seat belts and other design issues. Talk to a Board Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 or fill out this Free Seat Belt Lawsuit Evaluation Form