Doggie doors and crawling kids can be a deadly combination

One afternoon in August 2006, two-year-old Matthew Ranfone wriggled through a pet door in his Orlando home and made his way to the family’s backyard pool. A few minutes later, his parents found him floating face down. Medical personnel were able to revive the toddler on the way to the hospital, but he died 13 days later from the injuries sustained in the near drowning.

Accidents involving children escaping through pet doors are more common than one might think, says Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, who has been researching the issue nationally. In the past decade, more than 100 children have drowned, nearly drowned, or been injured after leaving the home through a pet door, he says.

Kane identified the incidents through news stories, public health specialists, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and coroners/medical examiners. “But the total number to date underestimates the true scope of the problem because most accidental drownings are classified only by cause of death or injury and do not identify how the child accessed the water,” he says. “Child-injury researchers are well aware of the link between pet access doors and child injury and death, but many parents and caregivers do not appreciate the risk associated with use of a pet door, and how young children can drown, become lost, wander into streets, or otherwise become seriously injured or killed after exiting a home through a pet door.”

Because many pet doors are the size of a standard sheet of paper or smaller, Kane says parents believe their child is safely contained inside the home. But a typical three-year-old male child weighs only 38 pounds and can easily pass through an opening that size.

There are alternatives to the typical flap-style pet door closure including some with locking mechanisms and others that are activated by a dog's radio collar. Better yet, if you have a pool, a pet and a small child, let your dog out the old-fashioned way by opening the door yourself.

To help get the word out to other parents who may not know how easily a child can slip through a pet door, Matthew’s mom has launched a Web site  PetAccessDangers.org. Carol Ranfone says she hopes to encourage the pet door industry to improve its designs.  She also urges public agencies, hospitals and medical examiners’ offices to incorporate a coding system to provide more accurate data about how a child may have reached the water or other hazard.  She says this information is critical to understanding the true scope of the safety issues surrounding pet door products and the risk they pose to children.

Watch Sean Kane's appearance on Good Morning America.

Photo by Erik Pierson, Flickr

Comments

[Barb]

I think we are missing the point here. All manufacturals should be responsible to warn the public of any potential dangers to our children. There are no perfect parents out there and certainly any parent knows it can only take 1 minute for a child to get hurt. Unfortnately accidents do happen and to blame and judge parents we don't know is insane. Help them to heal and remember that something good may come out of this to help other children and families in the future. Perhaps a public list of potential dangers to children can incorporate the installation of doogie doors and be available to all expectant parents!!

[RB]

Let's face it: some people should not be allowed to have children. A child IS NOT a fashion accessory! (Listening, Hollywood?)

[Lisa]

The death of a child is a terrible thing. But when I heard this family was suing the manufacturer of the doggie door I couldn't help but comment. The only people at fault for this childs death are the parents. Here is an idea WATCH YOUR CHILDREN! It is insane to try and put the blame on someone else. This lawsuit is the same as suing an appliance company because your child touched the stove and burned themselved. The mother said she was never told about the dangers of doggie doors ITS COMMON SENSE WOMAN.

[anita]

Gee the new deadbolt I put on my door did not say " if I neglect to lock the Lock, that robbers can come in" should I sue them?
People are too sue happy. if you have a tot running around, you keep an eye on them,and have things safe for them. I feel for the parents, however they need to accept responsability for their neglect.

[Tim]

I know someone who's child choked on a quarter. Should coins now have to have warning? I know someone who got in a car accident. Should cars have to have warnings? What if the child would have went out a REGULAR door? Would the family sue that company?
The family that is suing the doggie-door company should have to spend some time in prison.

[Melissa]

I'm sorry that any child died, but the real cause is not with the door itself, but with the parents. Its common sense, a child is small...the dog door is small...a person should be able to put two and two together. My question is where was that parent when their child was crawling through the door. Why were they not watching their own child?? I'm so tired of people trying to blame someone/something else for their negligence. Take blame for your own actions and WATCH YOUR OWN CHILDREN!!!!

[Aaron Kaufman]

Live in Orlando and what is not mentioned in the story is all pools in Florida are required to have safety-gates around pools. This pool may have been a grandfathered pool which didn't have the gates. Too many kids in Florida are still being killed with negligent parents and grandparents who don't have these gates.

[ladywolf61]

If the parents are too lazy to let the dog out, what makes you think they are watching their child? The majority of 'doggie doors' have a partition that locks in place so nothing can get in or out. Oh my! What will they do when little Johnnie is big enough to reach the door handle and/or gets a chair to unlock it to let himself out? Will Carol Ranfone lobby for safer doors on our homes?

[Deluzed]

I am so sorry for the loss of any child that drowns, it is though, one of the deadly hazards that a parent chooses to have when they make the decision to have a pool. These parents should have had a fence around the pool with a self closing gate and lock, as is recommended. Even a pool alarm would have worked.

Personally, I would have known immediately that my child could crawl through a doggie door and I would have changed the door out at once, just as I would have also scoured our home for any/all potential hazards for a small child. Placing blame on the manufacturer of the doggie door is ridiculous, it is parental responsibility, pure and simple, not the company that makes doors for dogs. It's akin to suing a doorknob company because they didn't disclose that a child could open a door by him/herself.

[Tom]

This is unfortunate, but the problem here is with the parents. Children could come with a warning label on their forehead and that would not prevent poor parenting. What a shame.

[check eye]

parents have to be responsible for ther children not doggie doors