Accidents & Injuries
Danger in a Spray Bottle: Why It’s Time to Change Our Childproofing Strategy
Dr. Greene's take on the household spray bottle... For years doctors have encouraged parents to store toxic household cleaning products in locked cabinets, out of sight and reach of children. While th…
Falling Down: Older Children
For the population as a whole, falls are the most common cause of unintentional injuries requiring medical care, the leading cause of hospital admissions for trauma, and the second leading cause (afte…
Big Heads & Baby Falls
Most parents are surprised at the ease with which small children can fall from beds, changing tables, and high chairs. Even before they can roll over, they have a remarkable knack for propelling thems…
The Toll of Driving Drunk
I wept again this morning when I stood with my family at the spot in our neighborhood where 7-year-old Alana Pack and her 10 year-old brother Troy were killed. This was an entirely preventable tragedy…
A Tragic Lesson
A young doctor named Hitoshi Nikaidoh graduated from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School in June 2003. He began work as a surgical intern in July. In August he stepped into a second-floor e…
Congratulations! You’ve made an important choice …
...to pursue CPR training. I salute you in your efforts to be trained to help save lives. In the United States, you can find a CPR event near you by just entering your zip code here. In any country yo…
CPR A Parent’s Responsibility
On August 3, 2003 James Safar, a man whose work saved many, many lives, died quietly at his home in Pennsylvania. He was 79 years old. He started the nation's first physician ? staffed ICU, but it was…
A True Lifesaver
A major change in lifesaving recommendations was made in July 2003. Amazing machines called automated external defibrillators or AEDs can be found in an increasing number of public places. These machi…
Roller Coasters, Amusement Parks, Injuries, and Neurologic Damage
Roller coasters are fun! Nevertheless, a study in the January 2002 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine reported a disturbing trend in the rate of thrill ride injuries. (more…)…
Deadly Fruit Gel Candies
When we want to emphasize something in writing, we use bold, italics, underline, or end the sentence with an ! When the US Food and Drug Administration wants to emphasize something, they issue a secon…
Do Graduated Driver’s Licenses Work?
Automobile collisions remain the leading cause of death among US teens. The youngest drivers are the most likely to crash, so a number of states have experimented with graduated driver licensing (GDL)…
Dangerous Driveways
Motor vehicle collisions kill more children in the United States than any illness. The August 2001 issue of Pediatrics reports that injuries that occur in and around driveways are a common, overlooked…
Sticks and Stones May Break Their Bones…
...but the normal rough-and-tumble play of childhood shouldn't! If a child falls from atop a climbing structure and breaks a bone, then it may be a normal fracture of a normal bone. But if a child tri…
Education Saves Lives
Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of untimely funerals for 15 to 20 year olds. Almost 30% of the teen drivers killed had been drinking. Can anything really change these statistics? (more…
Laughing Gas
Getting stitches on the face is no fun for anyone, but it is especially frightening to young children. A study published in the January 2001 issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine evaluated different w…
Kids and Scooters
Scooter injuries have skyrocketed since May, sending a total of 27,600 people to emergency rooms (including over 23,000 children), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rep…
Booster Seats: Still Needed after Age 4?
The August 2000 electronic issue of Pediatrics contains a study that looked at how many kids age 4 to 9 years use booster seats in cars (only 27.7% -- only 10% by age 6). The authors asked the parents…
Car Seat Safety
Parents and children alike look forward to four years and forty pounds when they no longer have to hassle with car seats. Even though experts (including me) recommend not using regular seat belts unti…
Driving and Teens
Dr. Greene's take on teenage driving... Teenage driving is a dangerous proposition, with fatal collisions the leading cause of death in 15-19 year olds. But getting teens together in a car multiplies …
Baseball Technology Reduces Injuries
The biggest safety concern in baseball is getting hit with the ball. Traditional hardballs have cork centers that are wrapped in layers of wool. Safety baseballs have a polyurethane core and are the s…