Philadelphia Residents are Urged to Use Caution When Buying Toy Gifts This Holiday Season
With the holiday gift buying season soon approaching, it is important for Philadelphia residents and parents across the country to remember to practice safe and informed gift giving. Remember that toys with small ingestible parts should never be given when the child’s ability to play with the toy properly is in question.
Reading the labels on packaging can help, but since all children develop at their own rates, it is important to use personal judgment when buying toys as gifts. Sadly, some toy companies even fail to label or market a toy responsibly.
A few years ago several parents became all too familiar with the dangers of defective or unsafe toys. One Seattle mom told her story in an interview with Komonews.com. She bought a Magnetix toy for her son Marcell, then four-years-old, and wound up agonizing in the emergency operating room for 90 minutes.
Marcell had ingested small, almost candy shaped, magnets that were part of the toy. Although Marcell knew it was wrong to eat magnets, according to his mother, the magnets included in the toy looked and felt so much like candy that Marcell could not resist. After ingesting the magnets he become violently ill, had excruciating stomach pain, and vomited repeatedly. His mom, Angela, prayed the symptoms were simply from stomach flu but was forced to rush Marcell to the emergency room where doctors discovered three magnets has punctured eight tiny holes into Marcell’s intestines.
Fortunately Marcell survived the incident due to his emergency care, but another young child whose parents purchased the defective toy was not so fortunate. A 19-month-old died just a few months later after ingesting the same small magnetic toy parts.
If you suspect you’re child or loved one has been injured by an unsafe toy, contact a Philadelphia injury lawyer as soon as possible. Please remember to use caution when buying gifts for children, friends, and family this holiday season.
