Texas Personal Injury Lawyers – Jim Adler & Associates – Blog

We all love to cool off in a swimming pool when temperatures reach torrid levels. Floating along on our backs, we watch clouds and enjoy the sounds of summer as others splash in the water nearby. These idyllic scenes turn to horror when a child is sucked up against a powerful swimming pool drain by the hundreds of pounds of pressure that these drains can exert. The suction has disemboweled children, leaving them dead, paralyzed or scarred for life with welts on their abdomens shaped like the drain.
The 7-year old granddaughter of former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker was disemboweled in a pool in 2002. There was nothing emergency room doctors could do to save her life. A federal law now mandates covers for these drains for all pools with public access, including hotels, apartments and residential communities. But enforcement is spotty.
A CNN report in January 2009 revealed that the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a small federal agency, is relying on state health and safety departments to enforce the law. But states have differing enforcement standards. Many pool operators say they have not had enough time to comply with the law and others say they are unable to obtain the drains. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the CPSC says pool owners will be liable if children are hurt in their pools despite difficulties in obtaining drain covers.