About 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs have been recalled after three children became entrapped and suffocated. In all three deaths, consumers had installed the drop-rail side of the crib upside down, the agency said. This creates a gap in the crib that children can slide into and suffocate.
The ethical issue arises because the three deaths were not close to one another. Each baby died in a different year. The John's first reported the incident in April 2005. However, the investigator failed to inspect the crib or identify the model. The second incident occurred with the Millwood's baby in November 2006. Now reports claim another child has recently died in 2007. This new crib has not been recalled but is being investigated by the safety agency.
The company and safety agency has known about the defect for over two years. They have created newer models; however, they all seem to have the same problem as the original. The fact that these other two babies could have been saved if they had inspected the incident thoroughly in 2005 is an outrage. The recall should have occurred years ago, instead of in the fall of 2007. Furthermore, the fact they are "investigating" into the third death is unwarranted. Due to the history of the cribs even the new models should be recalled.
The company is only thinking about the profits not the lives of then children. It unethical to allow these cribs to be used daily knowing there is a defect that can lead to their death. There were over fifty-five reports about the cribs drop sides detaching or faulty hardware. The company should be tried for negligent homicide for allowing two other babies to die knowing the crib was faulty. The company officials cannot continue to allow even their new models to be used. Until it is proven the third victim was not killed by their crib it should also be recalled with the older models. The company needs to start thinking about the consumer rather than the profit.
SITE: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3637191
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2 comments:
I was considering writing a post about this one myself, but I thought with the hurricane of recalls we've been seeing lately, it'd get lost in the shuffle.
Are the cribs defective in general, or is it just when the consumer installs the gate incorrectly? If it's the latter, I think we need to put some responsibility on the part of the owner in this instance, as cruel as that may sound. If the instructions are poorly written and it is easy to make the mistake in the first place, then that might shift the responsibility back to the manufacturer.
It's kind of a dance of ethical responsibility in this case. I was hopeful there'd be more info. Media outlets are focused on the recalls right now, but they aren't always focusing on the important details. A scary statistic is that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the common classification for unexplained infant deaths,(including suffocation) is approximately 2500 infants yearly. You have to start to question how many of those deaths could be the result of cases like this.
Are manufacturers responsible for death or injury if a consumer assembles something incorrectly? I think it depends on the item in question. I know with bicycles, companies aren't supposed to be responsible for your error. However, in this modern day of lawsuits for just about everything, it wouldn't surprise me to see something pop up on the news about a new incident and an associated lawsuit.
Here is the source for info and statistics on SIDS:
Kidshealth.org
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