link MINNEAPOLIS — A six-year-old girl has been hospitalized after a horrifying accident at a swimming pool, when she sat on an open drain and a powerful suction pump tore out part of her intestinal tract. A surgeon told the family Wednesday that part of her intestines had been lost. Abigail Taylor was severely injured Tuesday when she sat over an open drain hole in a wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club, according to a posting by her family on the Caring Bridge Web site. The posting, which has since been taken down, said it is a "medical miracle" that Taylor is still alive. Taylor is listed in serious condition at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Bob Bennett, an attorney representing the family, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press she was conscious and able to speak late Tuesday but that she faces a series of surgeries with uncertain results. Bennett alleged that the swimming pool's drain hole was improperly uncovered. An official at the golf club expressed sympathy for the family and said he didn't think anything was wrong with the pool, but referred questions to the club's attorney, who declined to comment.
This happened more than ten years ago http://ncstormtrack.com/news/local/story/160341/ Its where John Edwards really made a name for himself as an attorney.
I remember this happened a few years ago and then Dateline and every similar show started running pieces on this possible catastrophe.
a wading pool is a body of water that is designed for little ones. There are a lot of requirements involved that are not always followed by builders who are not knowledgable. The wading pool has to be a certain distance from the main pool or surrounded by a fence and the hydraulics must be designed so that it turns over at least two to three times every hour (which, including the water in transit, is fairly difficult not to do if designed properly). in addition to proper drain covers it is also necessary to install dual or quad main drains so that if one is covered the suction is transferred to the other so that entrapment doesn't occur. There are several types of entrapment (one of which is what happened here where disembowelment occurs). The others are hair that gets wrapped around the drain cover do to the suction or the sticking of someone to the drain by their skin due to the suction. There are also pumps available now which sense when entrapment occurs and shut themselves off. Any of these design features would have prevented what occurred here and someone is absolutely liable. All older pools should be retrofitted with dual main drains with modern covers. Our company has actually been doing this since around 1972 on all of our pools and I believe it only became a requirement around 1990 or so. There have been several multi-million dollar lawsuits that have happened over the years due to this very issue and there shouldn't be a pool anywhere where this can occur. The hair issue is harder to tackle, but pure entrapment is preventable and a known issue. someone is going to get the pants sued off of them. I actually went out to place recently that wanted a renovation of their semi-public pool and they had a similar issue. A single main drain in the deep end that had it's own line running back to the very ancient pool pump. Literally a death trap. They thought I was making all of this up as I was talking to them but what can I do? They have been informed and if they want it done right they will call us and pay the price. It's a small price to pay considering the alternative. Cheers, Brock
they won't be wealthy for long. and depending when the pool was built neither will the builder or the city.
