Unthinkable But Real: Tipping Furniture, TVs Sometimes Deadly to Children

Charlie Horn, 2, choked to death in 2007 when he was pinned beneath a dresser in his bedroom in Kansas City, Mo.

When it comes to dangers that threaten children, one of the most unimaginable is a piece of furniture toppling and injuring, or even killing, a youngster.

 

Yet tens of thousands of children in recent years have wound up in emergency rooms and scores have died from such accidents, according to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
That is prompting CPSC officials, consumer advocates, and furniture and electronics industry executives to explore ways to make dressers, storage cabinets, TVs and other heavy household items more stable. They also want to alert parents about these little-known hazards.
“Furniture was designed for the convenience of adults, child injury was never considered,” explained Dr. Gary Smith, president of the nonprofit Child Injury Prevention Alliance and a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Parents “simply don’t know that they’ve got this danger lurking.”
Even safety-conscious parents mindful of the potential for tall furniture to tumble can be caught by surprise, with tragic consequences.
For instance, Jenny Horn, a mother and nurse in Kansas City, Mo., secured a tall armoire in her home to keep it from tipping. But she had no inkling that a relatively small item could be a hazard – until 2007, when her 2-year-old son, Charlie, choked to death underneath a 30-inch dresser in his bedroom.
The person taking care of Charlie at the time thought the young child was sleeping, and didn’t hear any loud noise even when the dresser toppled onto him after he apparently climbed on it. “They call it a silent death,” Horn said. Children “are a cushion for the fall of the dresser so you don’t necessarily hear a sound.”
In a similar accident, Kimberly Packard, a physical therapist in Sterling, Mass., lost her 3-year-old daughter, Meghan, in 2004.
“By the time we found her, it was too late,” Packard said, explaining that her husband and Meghan’s twin brother, Ryan, discovered her underneath a dresser.
Like Horn, Packard had taken precautions, securing taller bookcases to a wall, but she also never suspected that smaller pieces of furniture could pose a threat.
“I’m a well-educated woman. I’m well-connected in the world of safety,” said Packard, who teaches CPR and childbirth classes. “And I didn’t know.”
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Meghan Agnes Beck, 3, died in Sterling, Mass., in 2004, after a dresser toppled onto her. Her mother, Kimberly Packard, a physical therapist, launched Meghan’s Hope, a nonprofit that raises awareness of the dangers of unstable furniture.

Katie Elise Lambert, 3, died in 2005 after being crushed by a wardrobe cabinet in Jenkintown, Pa. Her mother, Judy Lambert, a school nurse, launched Katie’s Foundation to help other families.

Shane Siefert, 2, died in March 2011 after being trapped beneath a dresser at his home in Barrington Hills, Ill. His mother, Lisa Siefert, a graphic artist, started Shane’s Foundation, which supplies materials to hospitals and doctors to educate families on safety.

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