07/29/2026
๐ง๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ข๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐: ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ
Summer colds have a way of catching parents off guard. We tend to think of congestion and stuffy noses as a winter problem, but between air conditioning, pool time, and the usual churn of summer camps and daycare, plenty of young children become ill this time of year too. As parents, we do everything we can to ease our children's discomfort when they're sick. But care must be taken to ensure that our well-meaning efforts don't create a far bigger problem.
We recently represented a two-year-old girl who had come down with ordinary congestion. Her pediatrician recommended a warm steam vaporizer, and her parents purchased one at their local drug store. The unit carried the usual warnings to keep it away from children. That night, they placed the vaporizer on the floor of the child's bedroom. The unit was equipped with a glowing orange night light, which the manufacturer marketed as a "safety" feature.
In the middle of the night, the child woke up, noticed the strange glowing orb on her floor, and went to investigate. As she leaned in, the steam scalded her face. She was left with a permanent, visible scar beneath her eye.
We retained an MIT-trained engineer to examine the unit. He found that it emitted steam hot enough to disfigure on mere "momentary contact." In his opinion, the steam should never have exceeded 160ยฐF, and the unit should have included a guard to diffuse it before it reached anyone standing nearby. The manufacturer initially denied responsibility before ultimately agreeing to resolve the case for nearly two million dollars.
The lesson here isn't complicated, but it bears repeating: the products we routinely bring into our homes aren't always what they appear to be. A feature marketed as "safety" isn't the same thing as โsafe.โ That's especially true for anything used around small children, where the margin for error is thinnest and the stakes are highest.
๐๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
๐๐ถ๐ป๐ผ ๐ . ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐๐๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ
Founder, Colucci, Colucci & Marcus, P.C.
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