It is already stressful to care for infants and young toddlers without having to worry about button battery ingestion. Ensuring they are safe at all costs is a parent’s number one job.
While you may have already baby-proofed your home by plugging up your electrical outlets, blocking off the stairs, or applying cabinet safety locks, you might not have thought about batteries posing a threat.
Button batteries can pose serious health and safety concerns to young children who are exposed to these items. If your child has swallowed a button battery and suffered an injury, you could be eligible to file a class-action lawsuit. Contact us today for a free consultation.
What Are Button Batteries?
Button batteries are small, circular-shaped batteries that can be found in a variety of children’s toys, mostly electronic ones. They are very small to ingest and should be kept out of children’s reach for the serious risks they possibly pose.
If the product is not properly assembled or provides easy access to the lithium coin, children can easily get a hold of them and swallow them or have them become lodged in the ear canal. Children who swallow or have a button battery lodged in their bodies can begin to experience symptoms in as little as two hours.
What Are the Risks Associated With Button Battery Ingestion?
Children are wildly curious and at a young age, nothing is off-limits for a quick taste test if parents are not carefully watching. There are major health risks associated with the ingestion of button batteries to some extent.
The materials found in button batteries start to mix with bodily currents in children to generate a current that produces sodium hydroxide inside the body. Sodium hydroxide is a harsh corrosive that begins to burn a hole in the part of the body it’s lodged in, which could develop a serious infection or other health concerns.
If parents are not careful, the ingestion of a button battery can not only cause severe illness, infections, or long-term disabilities, but it can also cause death if not treated right away. If your child has swallowed a battery, do not make them vomit or eat.
Tell-Tale Signs of Button Battery Ingestion
If you suspect your child has swallowed a button battery, there might be a few symptoms they are displaying. Symptoms of swallowing a button battery can include any or a combination of the following:
- Headache
- Fever
- Nausea or vomiting
- Crying
- Loss of appetite
- Trouble breathing
- Ear drainage or pain
- Nosebleeds
- Stomach or chest pain
It’s crucial for parents to look around the house to see if there’s the possibility their child might have swallowed a button battery from a toy or electronic device. If you begin to notice a serious change or any of these symptoms, it’s time to head to the hospital.
Button batteries that are lodged in the ear or nose can cause severe damage to bodily functions. For instance, permanent damage can be done to the eardrum or nasal septum, which can leave behind infections or the loss of hearing and smell.
Button batteries ingestion can leave behind significant damage to the esophagus or other areas of the chest that affect breathing. Having a button battery that is swallowed is a serious concern since the sodium hydroxide can burn surrounding areas and pose the possibility of an immediately life-threatening injury.
Possible Lawsuits for Button Battery Ingestion
There are several possible lawsuits parents can file in the situation of button battery ingestion. Lawsuits can be filed against the toy manufacturer or a medical organization. Since button batteries can lead to life-altering consequences if ingested, it should be noted that products contain harmful items and that medical professionals are carefully looking for all possibilities.
The National Safety Council has estimated that more than 2,800 kids are treated each year for the button battery ingestion, so why are toy manufacturers still allowing these harmful items to be so easily accessible?
Possible lawsuits parents can file in these situations can include:
- Defective product
- Failure to Warn
- Medical Malpractice
A defective product or failure to warn lawsuits are possible lawsuits if the blame is mostly on the toy manufacturer. Most children’s toys have battery compartments that are safely designed to keep the batteries at bay. If a child can easily access the battery from a defective design, then you have the possibility to sue the toymaker for the injury.
Failure to Warn is another possible lawsuit if there are no warnings on the product that the item either contains these batteries or are appropriate for certain ages. Most companies try to cover their tracks by posting a warning for parents to be aware that batteries are included, but if there is no warning on the box, you could file this lawsuit.
If you take your child to a medical facility and are quickly dismissed, medical malpractice could be the claim you need to file. It’s a medical provider’s duty to provide ethical care to a patient and to correctly diagnose the issue. If your doctor failed to recognize the lodged or swallowed battery and then your child faced severe harm or death, seeking justice from the entity and doctor is highly appropriate.
The best way to understand if you have a claim to file is to seek the professional help of a trusted attorney.
If Your Child Has Swallowed A Button Battery and Faced An Injury, Contact Class Action Coalition
Children’s toys are meant to entertain, not provide harm or stress to your family. If your child has recently ingested a button battery, the experts at Class Action Coalition want to help you look into a mass tort claim against the responsible party.
We help victims seek the justice they deserve and the rightful compensation to make up for any damages and pain and suffering that was experienced as a result of the preventable injury. You can get started by calling us to schedule your free consultation and talk about your case in greater detail.
To get started, call (855) 938-0980.
