Personal Injury Law

North Carolina Child Death Fatality Rate was Lowest Ever in 2008

Good news for children 17 years of age and under in North Carolina. The death rate in the state for minors hit its lowest level yet in 2008, dropping 5% from the year before to 71 fatalities for every one hundred children.

According to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, 1,573 minors died in 2008. That?s a definite drop from the 1,649 North Carolina child deaths in 2007.

There are 2.2 million people younger than 18 who are residents of North Carolina. Task force members attribute the decline to better child safety laws and greater spending on the issue of child safety. Other figures revealed by the task force include:

? 39% increase (compared to 2008) in sudden infant death syndrome.
? A 13% decline in the number of motor vehicle-related child deaths (better quality child safety seats and higher gas prices are credited for the decline)
? A 29% drop in fire-related fatalities
? 3 bicycle fatalities
? 18 poisoning deaths
? 58 children were murdered

There is nothing more devastating to a parent than to have a child die in an accident?especially in an accident that was caused by someone?s carelessness or negligence during a Charlotte car accident, a Hickory truck crash, a Raleigh bicycle collision, an apartment fire because a hazardous condition in the building that created a North Carolina premises liability, or another type of personal injury accident.

Fortunately, you can hold the responsible party liable by filing a North Carolina wrongful death claim. If your child was fortunate to survive the injury accident, you can also claim damages with your North Carolina injuries to minors lawsuit.This allows a parent or guardian to obtain personal injury recovery on the young victim?s behalf. This can be very important?especially if your child will have to undergo costly medical treatment and rehabilitation to recover or live for the rest of his or her life with a permanent injury.

NC rate of child deaths falls to lowest level, Charlotte Observer/AP, September 14, 2009

Related Web Resources:
County Level Child Death Data, NCChild.org (PDF)

NC Department of Health and Human Services

Full post as published by North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).