Pediatric Trauma and Motor Vehicle Accidents

Written By:
Paulette Campbell RN-BC, BSN, MJ
Certified Legal Nurse Consultant

Trauma remains the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States for the pediatric population. In fact, injury is the leading cause of death among children older than one year of age. Unintentional injury accounts for sixty-five percent of all injury deaths in children under the age of nineteen. Twenty thousand of those child trauma victims die from injury and fifty thousand acquire permanent disabilities (most are closed head injuries).

One of the major areas of trauma injuries in children are motor vehicle accidents. In 2005, 1,335 under the age of fourteen died as a result of a motor vehicle accident and 184,000 were injured. Sadly, the truth behind these statistics is the fact that about twenty-five percent of the deaths occur as the result of drunk drivers and over two-thirds of the child victims are riding with the intoxicated driver responsible for the accident.

The injuries that are most common are concussions, internal injuries, severe cuts, lacerations and severe shock. These injuries equate to 304,000 days in the hospital each year with an economic cost of two billion dollars.

If you have a case involving a motor vehicle accident with a child call us today and find out how our medical legal consulting services can make a difference in your practice today. You can contact our offices at Medical Jurisprudence, Inc. today at 630-551-0978 or at info@medicaljurisprudence.com.