Most of us would never dare to let our children swim in a public pool where there was no lifeguard on duty. The dangers of swimming in a pool where the water is so deep that your feet cannot touch the bottom while your head is above water are obvious. Parents are cautious, sometimes too cautious, when it comes to letting their children swim in deep pools. Not all catastrophic accidents involving swimming pools happen in the deep end, though. In fact, every year, children drown in pools where the water is shallow enough that they can comfortably stand up anywhere in the pool.
The reason for almost all of these incidents is a lack of adequate supervision by adults. Some of these tragic accidents happen when children are playing in pools on their own property. If a child wandered onto someone else’s property and got injured while swimming unattended in a pool, the “attractive nuisance” doctrine applies. This means that the owners of property are liable for premises liability if they do not make attractive but potentially dangerous features of their property, such as swimming pools and trampolines, inaccessible to children without adult supervision. If you or your child got injured in someone else’s home swimming pool, contact a Houma personal injury lawyer.
Child Drowns in Nearly Empty Kiddie Pool
In the summer of 2023, a one-year-old girl drowned in a kiddie pool behind her house in Kenner. Her parents were draining the pool, and it only had nine inches of water in it when adults found her. At the time of the accident, the girl was playing in the backyard with her 4-year-old brother while the adults were inside the house.
Child Drowns While Swimming Alone in an Above-Ground Pool
Only days earlier, a 7-year-old boy drowned in an above-ground pool in Slidell. The pool was in the backyard of a house, and the water was only three feet deep. News reports made it sound like the boy was alone when he went into the pool and that the pool was not on his property.
Keeping Children Safe During Swimming Season
Drowning accidents in swimming pools are preventable. The best ways to protect your children from drowning are to teach them to swim and to stay with them when they are near swimming pools. If you cannot afford swimming lessons for your child, go with them to a community pool and get in the water with them. Start by playing in the shallow end together. Show them how far they can go into the pool and still be able to touch the bottom with their feet. If you are a strong swimmer, carry them with you into deeper water. With practice, they will learn swimming pool survival skills.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Swimming Pool Accident Cases
A personal injury lawyer can help you if you were injured in an accident at a swimming pool on someone else’s property. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.
Sources
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article277644158.html
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