Sad and unfortunate 
I came to know of this when I was watching the local news.
A Benicia man was arrested Wednesday night in the death of his 11-month-old son, who was mistakenly left behind in a minivan when the father went to work at a Siemens AG division in Concord.
The temperature in Concord reached 81 degrees Wednesday, but would have been much higher in an enclosed vehicle. Heatstroke can occur when the body’s core temperature reaches 104 degrees.
A core temperature of 107 degrees is considered lethal, according to the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University. A child’s body can warm three to five times faster than an adult body.
While horrifying, such accidents are extremely rare, says Rona Renner, an East Bay parent educator and host of the call-in radio show “Childhood Matters.”
“I don’t think there are any shoulds here,” Renner said. “It’s a terrible tragedy and we can all feel grief for the family. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent.”
Still, such cases offer parents a prompt to reflect on their own lives.
“It’s a time to take a deep breath and ask yourself what’s your stress level like? Do you feel sometimes like you’re going to not be able to carry through with that utmost responsibility, which is caring for your kids? If you’re getting close, reach out for some help.
“Sleep-deprived, hard-working, stressed parents are not functioning at their best,” Renner said.
We may feel that its one of those rarest of rare incidences but the numbers are quite startling.
At least 15 small children have died so far this year nationwide after being left in hot vehicles, according to a study published in Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics and updated July 12. Last year, 29 children died, and 42 died in 2005, and a total of 336 have perished since 1998. Of the total, 101 were less than a year old.
I remember a similar story I watched on Oprah Winfrey show. A father forgot to drop his son at the day care as he was getting late for his meeting. He remembered after a while but it was too late But, he was not the parent who was dropping his child regularly at the day care. I wonder out of the above numbers, how many were caused when a parent was supposed to drop a child out of his regular daily routine. Its not an excuse but might show another factor common in all these cases.
Another thing to note is, as per the state law, its a citable offense to leave a 6yr or younger child unattended in a car.
May be its a good idea to leave some things like laptop, lunch box, hand bag or anything that one might take for sure to office near the car seat.
Its an excruciating loss for any parent
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One Response:
July 28th, 2007 at 10:40 am
yeah, it is terrible. Found this well-researched article which compiles details about a lot of these incidents.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070728/ap_on_re_us/left_to_die;_ylt=AlLTkIySs0×7qpffa.2X41Ss0NUE
Also, why not add additional features to car seats and cars to avoid such incidents. Like for example, if a child is placed in the car seat, it records the event with the car security system. When the car is parked, the beeper will go off till the child is removed from the car seat. And if the parent has not taken the kid from the car seat still, then the security alwarm will go off after minutes. It should be very well possible with the existing technology. GIven some investment and some time, even I can come up with intelligent car seats.