CHICAGO DROWNING ATTORNEY

What is a Drowning Accident?

Drowning occurs when someone becomes submerged under water and experiences respiratory arrest. Without immediate help from a lifeguard, family member, or a friend, the drowning victim can lose consciousness, blood flow, and oxygen flow to the brain. As a result, the drowning victim can die.

Drowning incidents can occur due to watercraft accidents, especially if no life jackets are on board the watercraft. Drowning accidents can occur at public swimming pools, water parks, beaches, summer camps, lakes, rivers, and even bathtubs.

If you or a loved one drowned or sustained injuries at a Chicago amusement or water park, our Chicago amusement park injury lawyers can help.

How Common Are Drowning Accidents in the U.S.?

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), drowning is the number one cause of death for children aged 1 through 4. Drowning is the second cause of death among children aged 5 through 14. The number one cause of death for this age group is car accidents.

The CDC also claims that there are approximately 4,000 drowning deaths in the U.S. every year. This breaks down to about 11 fatal drownings every day. Meanwhile, there are approximately 8,000 non-fatal drowning incidents every year, which breaks down to about 22 non-fatal drowning incidents per day.

Who is At Risk for Drowning?

Several types of people are at risk for an unintentional drowning incident, including:

• Children Ages 1 Through 4 have the highest rates of accidental drowning deaths out of every other type of person. Many of these children don’t know how to swim yet. The few that do know how to swim are usually not very strong swimmers, and therefore should not be unsupervised.
• Men: The CDC states that almost 80% of U.S. drowning victims are male. Experts believe this may be because men are more likely to get in the water at a pool or a beach, they’re more likely to engage in risky behaviors in the water, and they’re more likely to be intoxicated.
• Racial and Ethnic Groups: Fatal drowning accidents are much more common among American Indian, Alaska Native, and Black Americans compared to White Americans according to the CDC.
• People With Seizure Disorders/People Who Take Certain Medications have higher rates of both drowning injuries and drowning deaths. People who have seizures are most likely to accidentally drown in the bathtub according to the CDC. People with autism and heart conditions also have a higher risk of experiencing a drowning death. Those who take psychiatric medications for anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder also have a higher risk of unintentional death via drowning due to side effects. Psychiatric medications often create side effects like brain fog, dizziness, “brain zaps,” loss of coordination, etc.
• Not Knowing How to Swim: Most children and even some adults don’t know how to swim. This can be incredibly dangerous at public swimming pools, water parks, beaches, rivers, lakes, etc.
• Drinking Alcohol: According to the CDC, up to 70% of drowning deaths (while boating or swimming) involved alcohol consumption. 1 in 4 ER visits for drowning incidents involved alcohol consumption. And lastly, 1 in 5 boating deaths involved alcohol consumption. Intoxication affects the average person’s balance, judgment, coordination, and willingness to engage in risky behaviors. For more information on boating accidents, contact our Chicago boating accident lawyers.
• No Life Jackets: Children should always wear life jackets (or floaties on their arms) while on a boat or in any body of water. Recreational boats should always have a few life jackets on hand for the people who know how to swim, just in case of an emergency. Of the 658 boating-related deaths that occurred in 2021, 81% occurred via drowning and 83% of drowning victims weren’t wearing life jackets according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Negligent Supervision: A drowning accident can happen in just a few seconds. If a lifeguard, family member, or friend is not paying attention, they could fail to save a life.

Are Drowning Accidents Always Fatal?

No, drowning accidents are not always fatal, especially if someone comes to the rescue in time. Non-fatal accidents are called near-drowning accidents. Near drowning accidents can result in little to no health complications, especially if the victim was saved very quickly.

Meanwhile, severe near-drowning accidents can result in the following health complications:

• Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), also known as “wet lung,” occurs when fluid collects inside the air sacs in the lungs, therefore preventing oxygen from coming into the body.
• Traumatic Brain Injury: Most people think that brain injuries occur just from acts of violence, sports accidents, or car accidents. But brain damage is one of the most common drowning injuries that victims can sustain. This health complication can occur when blood and oxygen flow to the brain has been cut off for about five minutes. Depending on how long it takes to resuscitate a drowning victim, they can certainly wake up with one or more disabilities. Our Chicago brain injury lawyers have extensive experience litigating these types of claims.
• Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen in the body’s tissues which can lead to organ failure if not treated immediately.
• Hypothermia occurs when the body is in extremely cold conditions for a long time, such as cold water or snow. A healthy body temperature is around 98 degrees fahrenheit. The body goes into a hypothermic state when body temperature dips below 95 degrees fahrenheit.
• Hypoventilation occurs when someone’s breathing is too shallow or slow to give enough oxygen to the body’s tissues. This type of breathing can make carbon dioxide levels rise in the body, which can be life-threatening.
• CPR Injuries such as chest bruising and rib fractures are extremely common after a drowning incident. Contrary to popular opinion, CPR is very violent on the body. It takes a lot of force to manually pump the heart in the event of an emergency. In 70% of CPR cases, people experience broken ribs. In fact, most CPR victims experience an average of 7.6 broken ribs.

If you or a loved one has suffered any of these drowning-related injuries, you may have grounds to contact a Chicago catastrophic injury lawyer.