Pritzker Olsen Attorneys

Pool and Spa Injury and Death Information
Lawyer and Lawsuit

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a study of pool and spa submersion-related injuries and deaths for children younger than 5 years old.  There were, on average, 2,700 pool and spa related emergency department-treated submersion injuries each year for 2005 – 2007 and 283 pool and spa (spas, hot tubs, and whirlpools) related fatalities per year for 2003 – 2005 for children younger than five years of age.

Injury and fatality years differ as a result of the lag in reporting fatalities.

Drowning vs. Submersion

CPSC used the term “submersion” instead of “drowning”:

Drowning is defined as suffocation and death resulting from filling of the lungs with water or other substances or fluid, so that gas exchange becomes impossible. A near drowning is survival for any length of time after submersion in water and temporary suffocation. Submersion is defined as the act of placing or the condition of being under the surface of a liquid. For this reason and since a considerable number of children are injured or do not die immediately, the term “submersion” encompasses the various events that have occurred better than the term “drowning.”       

Pool and Spa Submersion Injuries and Deaths Statistics

swimming pool
  • The overwhelming majority of estimated emergency-room-treated submersion injuries for 2005 – 2007 and reported fatalities for 2003 – 2005 are associated with pools.
  • Approximately 60 percent of estimated injuries for 2005 – 2007 and reported fatalities for 2003 – 2005 for children younger than five involve children ages one and two.
  • 61 percent of the estimated injuries for 2005 – 2007 and 79 percent of the fatalities for 2003 – 2005 for children younger than five occurred at a residence. (Contact us about homeowner's insurance claims in pool drowning cases.)
  • For 2003 – 2005, an annual average of 283 (270 for pools, 12 for spas) fatalities associated with pool and spa submersions were reported to CPSC staff for children less than five years of age.
  • There was an annual average of 267 submersion fatalities associated with pools and spas reported to CPSC staff for 2002 – 2004 for children younger than five years of age.
  • Sixty-seven percent of the fatalities occurred on the same day as the submersion. Twenty-five percent of the victims succumbed days, weeks, and even years after the submersion, often after extensive medical treatment for both the pools and the pools and spas categories. The remaining eight percent is unknown.
  • Roughly two-thirds of the victims were males.
  • 35% of the reported fatalities were associated with an in-ground pool.
  • The highest percentage of the reports (38%) attributed the incident to an adult losing contact or knowledge of the whereabouts of the child and during this time period the child managed to access the pool/spa.
  • 15% of the reports indicated barrier compromise or circumvention.
  • 12% of the reports indicated that the incident occurred in or near the pool.

Read the entire 2008 CPSC pool and spa injury and death report.

Legal Representation in a Lawsuit Involving
a Pool or Spa Injury or Death

Our personal injury lawyers have gained a national reputation and have been interviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lawyers USA and other publications. If you would like an attorney to review your case involving a pool or spa injury or death, please contact the firm: call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), e-mail our lawyers or submit the firm’s case consultation form.

Read about changes in Minnesota swimming pool law after the death of a girl who had her intestines sucked out in a pool accident.


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