An Evening at the South Florida Fair in West Palm Beach, Florida Ends in Partial Amputation of Thumb
Most amusement parks, carnivals and state fairs have installed “kiddie” rides to entice children so young they may not even be able to walk. But beneath the bright lights and cheerful paint is heavy machinery that may put young children in danger of being seriously injured. Inside fun houses, for instance, are swaying floors, rotating drums, moving stairways and other machines. These may be safe for adults, but very often present the possibility of significant injury to young children.
One January evening, a mother and father were enjoying the South Florida Fair with their three sons. The youngest child, two years old at the time, was running through the fun house with his 13 year old babysitter while his mother and father watched from outside. As he was running through the fun house, he came upon an area of the fun house where there are 3 disks in the floor with poles extending upward from the center of each disk. These disks spin on motors and the object is to step on them and try to make your way across. The two year old victim in this case stepped on the disk and fell, causing his right thumb to become amputated at the knuckle as it was caught between the rotating disks.
The victim in this Florida premises liability case was rushed to Palms West Medical Center where reattachment of the thumb was attempted, but unfortunately, this reattachment failed and the thumb subsequently had to be amputated several days later. He was later seen by a specialist at Miami Children’s Hospital for a second opinion. The physicians outlined five options for the family at that point: (1) Do nothing and let him make the natural adjustments necessary for the loss of this partial thumb; (2) A toe transfer – the most complicated of all options but probably the best solution in the physicians’ eyes since he would have feeling in the end of the thumb; (3) A distraction lengthening of the thumb; (4) Wearing a prosthetic thumb; and (5) An osteo-integrated implant. Now the parents are left with a very tough decision. Of course the three surgical options would all be quite expensive.
The parents in this situation contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to advise them of their options in this matter and to file a lawsuit against the amusement company that owned the “kiddie rides” and the company that was in charge of setting up, maintaining and operating these rides.
