Injuries on the rise from falling TVs

Falling televisions have sent nearly 200,000 U.S. children to the emergency room over the past 20 years and the injury rate has climbed substantially for these sometimes-deadly accidents, a study found. Dr. Gary Smith is the study’s lead author.  “The injuries range from everything from bruises, unfortunately, all the way up to death.” Young children are injured the most, says Dr. Smith. “About half of the children are younger than age three and about two-thirds are younger than age five.” Two recommendations have materialized from the study, adds Dr. Smith.  “The standards for stability for TVs need to be revisited and that manufacturers need to work to make TVs more stable.” Dr. Smith was alarmed by the rising injury rate revealed in the findings.  “When we looked at children who are injured from falling TVs, those numbers are increasing dramatically.  In fact we saw an almost doubling in the number of injuries to children from falling TVs during the last two decades.” Starting in 1990 through 2011, an average of 17,000 children a year are treated in hospital emergency departments for a TV related injury, which is a child being injured every 30 minutes.