Recent Recall of Baby Monitor A Reminder of Danger of Defective Products

Parents have a natural instinct to protect their children. To do their jobs as well as possible, they typically purchase consumer items specifically designed for children’s safety. In the early stages of life – particularly infancy and toddlerhood – one of the most trusted safety items is the baby monitor. But now, Angelcare Monitors, Inc. has recalled 600,000 of its models due to a strangulation hazard that has already killed two children in the United States.

The Canada-based company, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has issued a voluntary recall of several of its models equipped with sensor pads. The pads are placed under mattresses to detect movement (or lack of movement) among sleeping children and are armed with alarms to alert parents of potential problems such as sudden infant death syndrome. Tragically, some children have been able to pull the cords attached to the sensor pads into their cribs, resulting in fatal strangulation and entanglement in nonfatal cases.

The affected models were made between 2009 and 2013 and do not have rigid cord covers, including:  AC1100, AC201, AC300, AC401 and 49255. You can find the model number on the back of the nursery unit.

This is not the first report of injuries to infants caused by baby monitors. According to the CPSC in a February 2011 safety alert, there have been seven reports of strangulation by baby monitor cords since 2002.

The number has since risen to eight, two of which involved Angelcare products. The CPSC provides a more detailed list of other companies who have recalled their monitors on their website, along with the procedure for filing a complaint of your own.

Tens of thousands of legal claims are filed each year by consumers who have suffered personal injuries as a result of dangerous and defective products. These product liability lawsuits stem from all different industries, ranging from children’s toys to power tools to dangerous medical products. Product liability-personal injury claims is one of the fastest growing areas of civil filings in the country, based on a report issued by the U.S. Courts in 2010.

In Kentucky, the state Product Liability Act allows for “any action brought for or on account of personal injury, death or property damage caused by or resulting from the manufacture, construction, design, formulation, development of standards, preparation, processing, assembly, testing, listing, certifying, warning, instructing, marketing, advertising, packaging or labeling of any product.” That means that a number of parties may be held accountable for your injuries, but it takes the expertise of a product liability lawyer to do a thorough investigation to determine who those parties could be.