Georgia Injury Law Blog
With summer fast approaching and thousands of children and families cooling off in swimming pools across the country, it is important for Atlanta pool owners to understand their risks of premises liability when a drowning occurs on their premises.
Most drownings involving children occur in swimming pools. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children between the age of 1 and 4 are more likely to die from drowning than any other factor. For children between the age of 5 and 14, drowning is the second most likely cause of unintentional death, after auto accidents. Every year, there are 4,000 fatal drowning accidents recorded in the United States, and as many as double that number of non -fatal drowning accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia has a drowning death rate that is approximately 1.37 for every 100,000 population.
Most of these accidents occur in residential and commercial swimming pools. Even if a drowning does not result in death, it can result in severe or even catastrophic personal injury. The loss of oxygen supply to the brain can result in brain damage and other consequences that can contribute to long- term or lifelong disability of a child or adult. Close to half of all drowning accidents that do not result in a death will result in hospitalization of the victim. A drowning is much more likely to result in death or long term injury compared to other unintentional injuries.