"Child seriously burned by mother's coffee at Glendale mall"

[armyowalgreens]

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/westvalley/glendale/story/Child-seriously-burned-by-mothers-coffee-at/vUSQzrTCdU27mVrkkEzZWA.cspx

"GLENDALE, AZ -- Authorities say a 2-year-old child received serious burns when a cup of hot coffee spilled on him at a Glendale mall early Saturday afternoon.

Glendale Fire Department spokesperson Wayne Smith said the child's mother was holding the boy while walking through a store at Arrowhead Towne Center mall, near 75th Avenue and Bell Road, when the child pulled on a cup of coffee the mother was holding.

Smith said the coffee spilled down the toddler's head, neck and shoulders.

The boy was air-lifted to a Maricopa Medical Center's burn unit in serious condition, Smith said.

There were no updates on the child's condition late Saturday afternoon."



------------------------

Whenever I see stories like this, one question comes to mind...

Why do people insist on drinking piping hot coffee?

[undeterred]

1. Why does coffee have to be served that way

would be a better question. I drink my coffee black, and when I buy a cup its too hot to drink for the first 10 minutes. I sure wouldn't want it spilled all over me. Poor kid.

[Occulus]

25. +1

I do not and will not drink coffee from a convenience store or a fast-food place without first dropping ice into it. It's just. Too. Hot.

[Captain Hilts]

2. I don't 'get' the appeal of coffee that hot, either. Worse is when shops use boiling water

to prepare packets of hot chocolate for kids.

[Warpy]

3. Hot coffee in SUMMER!!!

I don't get that at all. I understand hot liquids in winter, although I stick to either tea or soup. I just don't get these people who insist on boiling hot coffee when it's 95 in the shade, if you can find any shade.

Still, shit happens and I feel bad for little kids who get injured when they decide to grab things that belong to grownups, meaning hot pans on the stove, books of matches, hot coffee, or guns.

[anigbrowl]

9. Sure. I like both hot coffee and hot tea in summer. Helps you sweat.

Personally, I don't like over-iced drinks. Probably has to do with my metabolism.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

16. I'm with you -

I grew up with hot coffee all day long. If anyone had shown my relatives and neighbors an iced coffee, they'd have died of embarrassment from the laughter.

Hot, strong, and quite delicious. But the art of preparing a good espresso is a careful one, and I was taught exactly how careful you have to be with the water, the pouring, the serving. Not quite the Japanese tea ceremony, but close.

My favorite summer drink - which I found in Great Britain - is the Shandy - half cold lemonade, half cold lager. Man, that is nice on a hot summer day!

But no ice...............

[virgogal]

12. I drink hot coffee every single morning,and an iced coffee every

afternoon in all 4 New England seasons.

[Occulus]

26. Yes, but there's a difference between "hot" and

ZOMGWTF I JUST BURNED OFF A LAYER OF MY TONGUE

:D

Hot Pockets. Those are just as bad. You can easily harm your mouth with food or drink that hot.

Poor kid. I thought most places these days used cups with sippy lids so they don't spill....

[csziggy]

4. Why are coffee urns set to keep coffee so hot?

If I go to a shop and buy a cup of coffee, I don't make a choice to buy coffee far above the temperature that it can be consumed. But far too many places keep their coffee so hot it has to cool for extended periods of time to get cool enough to drink. If I am sitting down at the shop to drink my coffee, I always order an ice water so I can put ice in my too-hot coffee and cool it down.

And since some one is bound to bring up the McDonald's coffee case:

During discovery, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700
claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims
involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebecks. This
history documented McDonalds' knowledge about the extent and nature of
this hazard.

McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants
advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees fahrenheit to
maintain optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the
safety ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell
coffee at substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is
generally 135 to 140 degrees.

Further, McDonalds' quality assurance manager testified that the company
actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185
degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn
hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above,
and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured
into styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn
the mouth and throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns
would occur, but testified that McDonalds had no intention of reducing
the "holding temperature" of its coffee.

Plaintiffs' expert, a scholar in thermodynamics applied to human skin
burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full
thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony
showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent
of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus,
if Liebeck's spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would
have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn.

More:http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

[anigbrowl]

8. Because it smells/tastes best when kept hot

low temperature does not really bring out the coffee flavor that well. Plus, to-go coffee cools off quite rapidly. I use a big resealable plastic flask with a handle, which holds all the coffee I want (which is a lot) but won't allow more than about a teaspoon of drip even when full, plus the handle makes it easy to carry and still do other things. As a bonus, I save money, use less paper, and no longer deal with messy or potentially dangerous coffee spills.

[csziggy]

11. But as indicated in the info from the McDonald's suit, food that hot is dangerous

Maybe brew it at higher temps, but don't hold it for long at temps over 150 F or so. Too often coffee at the shops tastes burnt since it has been keep far too hot.

If I got coffee out more than a few times a year, I'd take along one of the numerous covered reusable coffee cups that I've accumulated from all sorts of sources (usually abandoned) to fill. But most of the time I am getting my coffee from my coffee maker at home. If it kept coffee that hot, I'd replace it!

[Tansy_Gold]

5. Stella Liebeck v McDonalds -- it's not so much that people

ask for coffee that's scalding hot, but it is in the coffee vendor's financial interest to serve it that way.


Tansy Gold, who drinks iced coffee year 'round

[TexasObserver]

35. True. Coffee at 180 degrees. 700 burn incidents in ten years.

And the McDonald's witness said it was their company's policy to have the coffee that hot, in spite of the burn reports they had received - roughly one every five days for ten years.

[MADem]

6. In AZ, in summer...why not an iced coffee? nt

[seabeyond]

7. it is a sad story. stuff happens. i had little kids, drank coffee and burned none.

accident

[tblue37]

18. I am 59 years old. I still carry scars from my mothers coffee--

spilled on me 57 years ago! Hot liquids are more dangerous than people realize, and the harm happens faster than you expect.

Ten months ago, I accidentally spilled some near boiling water on my thigh. I ended up in the emergency room with 2nd-degree burns all over the front of my thigh. I was wearing a nightgown when it happened, so the burns weren't as bad as they would have been had I been wearing jeans or trousers. I was able to pull the gown away and off almost immediately as the water spilled, but still ended up with those terrible burns all over my thigh. If I had been wearing jeans, I am sure they would have ended up with some 3rd-degree burns, too.

[seabeyond]

19. it is awful, and it hurts like hell. but you make the point

the are all kinds of dangers in the world and stuff happens... to most all of us. they are accidents. to blame coffee and ask why drink it doesnt make sense to me. i am sorry for the baby. it is the scary part of life. stuff that happens.

[tblue37]

43. Yes. I might also point out that today’s parents

have several strikes against them where taking care of their own kids and doing so safely is concerned. On the one hand, they are always rushed, often through no fault of their on, and so they are juggling kids while trying to multitask to an often insane degree.

Then, they also are often true novices where taking care of kids is concerned, since most probably grew up with few or no siblings and little or no responsibility for caring for their own siblings, so they lack experience. Finally, they don’t have the benefit of an extended family nearby so that older family members can help them learn the ropes—including what to watch out for and what sort of trouble babies and toddlers are capable of getting into. New parents are often totally gobsmacked to learn that a tiny, tiny baby can roll off a bed even when placed in the middle on his back or stomach, or that a baby who couldn’t stand yesterday can pull to a stand today and then tip over and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table.

On the other hand, we are far more aware of certain kinds of dangers these days, and perhaps since we have fewer kids per family, we focus more intensely on our protective instincts toward them. As a result, dangers that used to be ignored or less focused on in the past are freaked out over today, and parents who would have merely been sympathized with when a moment of carelessness or inattention caused their child’s injury are now excoriated for being terrible people.

A lot of parents are abusive and neglectful—or just stupid—about protecting their kids from harm. But many are just overwhelmed and unaware that a child can do something that could harm them so seriously. I mean, think about it. How many young, inexperienced parents would think, “I probably cannot safely carry a paper cup of coffee an my 2-year-old at the same time without risking serious injuries to my child that could lead to her being life-flighted to the hospital. It is counterintuitive, sin’t it/

I raised my own 2 kids, plus 34 others, since I ran a home daycare for 18 years. I am aware of things most young mothers never would think of. For example, when playing chase with toddlers and young kids, I never chased them, but let them chase me instead. Why? Because I once saw a small child run giggling into the path of an oncoming car as her mother tried to catch her and snatch her to safety. The child thought Mom was playing catch, like they almost certainly did all the time at home. Fortunately, I was there, and my years o daycare experience always made me attentive to the position of small children and oncoming cars in a parking lot. Back then I was fast, the car was moving slowly, and I was able to get the toddler before the car, which also jolted to a sudden stop, could hit her.

But I have an article on my Kidbits website about the time when my own sister almost chased my 18-month-old daughter directly into the path of a speeding car on our street: http://kidbits.homestead.com/buck.html
Carol had three kids of her won, and she played with them the way most loving parents do—but without the awareness of such things that my much more vast experience with small children gave me. If Becky had been hurt or killed, most people would have torn Carol to pieces for being so stupid or careless, but she wasn’t being stupid or careless at all. The danger Becky was put in was something that most parents would not have foreseen, and could not have been expected to foresee.

[seabeyond]

45. a thoughtful post. i was much older having children

also well spread out. also financially secure so could stay at home 24/7 taking care of kids. also, old enough to be paranoid about everything, lol.

i thought of so many things, that without experience would not have been thought about. it may have also hampered my children in other areas. though keeping them safe, might have made them less impulsive, more fearful or any other number of things. it is a give and take kinda thing. so though it worked for me, fine for kids, i could see an independence in other kids mine didn't have

also, you have zillions of parents carrying coffee with no harm to the child. and then it happens to a child. a zillion parents chase there children with no harm done, and then the kid that runs into the street.

i just have to reduce it to shit happens. when there is no evidence of negligence, abuse and an unforeseen happens. none of us are so great, just kinda lucky

[tblue37]

46. Yep. Luck is a major element--and so is bad luck. nt

[SoCalDem]

24. Exactly.. we both drank hot coffee and none of our kids got burned either

We never "padlocked" our cupboards, and none of our kids drank anything poisonous.. we even had table lighters (remember those?), and none of them played with them. They got their hands smacked when they touched stuff they were not supposed to touch.

Accidents happen, no matter how careful you are..

We just watched them closely and somehow our kids all managed to grow up, safe and sound.

When those little plug-in things for outlets came out, I bought some, and every morning we had the "Here Mommy" game, as out son dutifully brought them all to me :rofl:..so we just put furniture in front of the outlets & gave up on them:)

If this Mom was walking around with scalding hot coffee & carrying the kid at the same time, it's too bad that she did not just take the time to sit down at a table and drink the coffee.. Multi-tasking to the point that she did not feel able to take a coffeebreak at the mall seems to be part of the problem. I hope the little one is ok.. Mom won't be, because every time she sees those scars, she'll know why they are there:(

[marshall]

10. I suppose the next thing the mother will sue the coffee shop

Coffee shouldn't be so hot that it burns when negligent parents spill it on their children.

[Tansy_Gold]

22. Don't assume the parents are negligent or that the customer is stupid

Several years ago I burned my hand when trying to open a container of au jus dip for a roast beef sandwich at Arby's. The plastic lid was stuck so tightly to the Styrofoam container that I had to pry it off. Some of the liquid sloshed out and onto my hand, eliciting a yelp of pain from me. The area between my thumb and index finger turned red and ultimately was sore for a few days -- first degree burn -- but I wasn't seriously injured.

I did, however, take the stuff back to the counter and complained, showing the young people there that I had been injured and that if liquid that hot was served to a child, or to the parent of a child, someone could be seriously hurt.

Their response was to show me the very tiny print, under the edge of the Styrofoam cup, that warned the contents could be hot. The warning did not say the contents could be dangerously hot, and that spilling the contents could cause serious burns.

When I asked how the stuff got so hot, they told me they didn't actually keep it at that temperature, but they heated it in the microwave. I asked how long they heated it -- and they didn't know. "Long enough to heat it up."

It's really pathetic when even DUers insist on blaming the victim without ever considering that maybe a BUSINESS did something that put the CUSTOMER at unnecessary risk.

Sheesh.



Tansy Gold

[Joe the Revelator]

28. Society has become way too litgious

I want my coffee and my aus jus hot. If you don't, indicate that when you buy it. Its not the company's fault for serving things the way they are meant to be served.

[marshall]

42. I wouldn't blame the victim--unless she filed a trivial lawsuit

My opinion was only contingent on such a lawsuit being filed.

I do think there are dangers when one depends so much on fast food. At least with take out you pick it up and take it home and open it up in the safety of your own home, where it can be cooled down or heated up as necessary. But as we move to a fast food dependent society, trying to drink hot coffee with one hand while holding a child with the other while shopping in the mall and no doubt watching the clock to stay on schedule and taking cell phone calls with the blue tooth earpiece--it's just a recipe for disaster. And the poor child is the one to suffer most.

[nini]

47. "Don't assume the parents are negligent"

2 different issues are present here. Parents should assume a hot drink might be hot enough to hurt a child when held that way - it is their responsibility to protect their kids. This has NOTHING to do with the restaurant's liability and the point you bring up. Ultimately the parent put the child in a situation that it could be harmed and that is solely HER fault.

[Tansy_Gold]

50. No one should expect even "hot" food or drinks to be dangerous

Especially when there are safety regulations that call for food to be kept at lower temperatures.

140 to 160 degrees is normally sufficient. 180 and above is dangerous.

If a customer wants their food or drink hotter than is normally considered safe, they can have it heated at their own risk.


TG

[LisaL]

13. Somebody still sells hot coffee?

I like hot coffee but I can't buy it. Everybody around here sells it lukewarm.

[Joe the Revelator]

29. Because of idiots seeing dollar signs when their hot beverage is actually hot

[Quantess]

30. Every Starbucks I have been to serves it scalding hot,

almost boiling.
Is there no Starbucks where you live....it couldn't be possible?

[LisaL]

31. Yes there is a Sturbucks. Several of them.

And the coffee is not as hot as l like it.

[Quantess]

33. You're pretty tough if you can drink it that hot.

Either you pour in a bunch of milk to cool it down, or your local Starbucks aren't serving coffee as hot as they do around here.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. My question is a variation on yours -

why do people drink while walking?

I grew up among people who drank hot espresso, freshly brewed several times a day, and, even as a small child, I had a big cappucino for breakfast, with warm Italian bread, freshly baked by my grandmother, buttered and dunked into my very own coffee.

Here in America, people order cappucino all day long - a breakfast drink for children, and adults drink it around the clock. Go figure.

Drinking hot coffee is a lovely tradition, meant to be enjoyed while sitting at a table, in a civilized manner, with friends, having a good conversation, or alone, reading a newspaper, a magazine, a book, or just watching the people passing by. That's how it's done in the civilized world, but in America, people haul water bottles with them, and swig from them like pigs at a trough.

When did it become so vital to make sure liquids were never more than twenty-four inches away from the mouth?

America - not burdened by either style or class.

But not thirsty.....................

[Maru Kitteh]

23. So - pretentious is the new black then. I missed that.

[Heidi]

32. She's not being pretentious. She's explaining how things are done in other cultures.

When I lived in the US, I used to swig coffee or Mountain Dew out of giant cups all day long; it wasn't a healthy or balanced way for me to live. Now, I have two long espressos per day. It isn't pretentious. It's just another way of living, and for me, a healthier and more balanced way.

[Maru Kitteh]

34. "America - not burdened by either style or class" = pretentious

First, I would submit that Americans work more hours than our more fortunate European counterparts, have less vacation, and less free time in general. Mothers have less free time than other Americans. Single mothers, still less. Many Americans simply don't have the time to satisfy someone else's idyllic sense of propriety or romantic visions of everyone taking their coffee "while sitting at a table, in a civilized manner, with friends, having a good conversation, or alone, reading a newspaper, a magazine, a book, or just watching the people passing by" because we just don't have that kind of fucking time.

Secondly, I would say that using the tragedy of a child being severely burned to take take cheap shots at American culture is not merely pretentious, it smacks of the very kind of crassness the author would seemingly (hopefully) claim to abhor.

I do not claim that it is pretentious to enjoy one's coffee seated and with pleasure and leisure. It is pretentious to claim cultural and/or personal superiority for being blessed with the opportunity to do so as a habit.

[LisaL]

36. Whether you are in America or anywhere else, if you are

walking holding your kid and a cup of hot coffee, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that an accident where coffee spills on your kid might happen.

[cboy4]

40. +1

:thumbsup:

[SleeplessInAlabama]

41. Not only is the comment pretentious

But to suggest that carrying around a water bottle to "swig out of it like a trough" is somehow a bad thing is ridiculous. Water, specifically, is much healthier than "Mountain Dew or coffee in giant cups" at any distance from your lips, and for those aren't afforded the time to sit down with a friend and have a chat every time they want a sip of water it's a great way to get their 8 glasses a day.

[dana_b]

49. +3

[cboy4]

39. Excellent job drifting off topic!

Plus you get extra points for your stereotypes.

:thumbsup:

[virgogal]

15. I'm sorry for the little boy but his mother is at fault.

[GoneOffShore]

17. The better question to ask is: Why walk around drinking coffee?

You're drinking coffee, sit down, enjoy it.

Not to say that the kid wouldn't have pulled the coffee cup even if mom was sitting down - unless he was duct taped to a chair, which I highly recommend for two year olds.

:hide:

[Jennicut]

21. LOL. Or even 4 year old girls.

My 4 year old was so hyper today, she was jumping in her seat trying to eat her lunch. They just never slow down.

[Jennicut]

20. Never trust a 2 year old not to grab something out of your hands

I know even at 4 and 5 my little girls do that. I try not to let them near anything hot, like tea, coffee, and of course the stove. The stove is a big danger to me, pulling on pans with hot stuff on them. I am so paranoid about that ever since someone I knew had an accident with their child. The little boy pulled down a plate of hot food cooking on top of the stove and got badly burned.

Another tip, if you want coffee, get it in an insulated cup and when walking with your child, keep it closed up.

[anonymous171]

27. That's it, we need to ban hot coffee. nt

[SleeplessInAlabama]

37. I have a better question.

When will people CATCH ON and start brewing their own coffee and putting it in the adult sippy cup?

[cboy4]

38. I like how a kid is in the burn unit and we have some people in this thread

focusing more on their favorite coffee concoction.

Oh, that terrible, someone was burned? But anyway, have you tried putting a dash of cocoa ..

[Cleita]

44. See, she should have been drinking beer after all. The only risk being that

she could drop the kid on it's head afterwards. Yes, sometimes caution is heeded too late and accidents do happen. I can only imagine that the overly tired mother of a two year old stopped to get a caffeine hit from her coffee to keep going. She will never do it again. I can count the scars from drops of hot cooking oil and other hot liquids dropped on me when I was a toddler and got in the way of an adult who didn't see me before it was too late. I can honestly say that both the adult and I learned lessons from those encounters.

[Cass]

48. A 2yr old can be an armful if they get squirming because they want down.

Not saying that's what caused this but it sounds like she was holding the child in one arm while holding the coffee without a lid in the other hand. It would be quite a feat trying to handle a toddler who gets restless in one arm while the other is occupied holding scalding hot coffee in an open container. I am not nearly coordinated enough to pull that off and wouldn't have attempted it.

Having said that, it really bugs me that coffee served in many commercial establishments is at scalding hot temperatures. This super-heated coffee is just an accident waiting to happen. I'm surprised we don't hear of more cases where consumers suffer injuries because of it.

I hope this little boy will have a swift recovery. Poor little guy, burns are a terribly painful injury to endure.