In March 2024, a daycare center in Denton, Texas, acted negligently when a toy, including the magnet it contained, broke into several pieces. Because caregivers did not throw the hazardous toy and all the broken magnet pieces away immediately, a curious 4-year-old girl was able to get her hands on the magnet fragments and swallow them.
The little girl told her caregivers what happened, yet they did not call 911 or seek immediate medical help, as required by Texas childcare laws. Caregivers at the Denton daycare center told the little girl to put her fingers down her throat to try and make herself vomit. They finally called her parents when inducing vomiting failed.
The girl’s parents rushed to the center and then took their daughter to the emergency room at a local children’s hospital, where she underwent a procedure involving a scope to inspect her esophagus, stomach, and upper gastrointestinal tract. Doctors were unable to remove the magnets, as they had already passed into her digestive system. The little girl was then hospitalized for two days and required close monitoring while her small body struggled to pass the dangerous fragments naturally.
To seek legal help, the little girl’s parents contacted our experienced Texas daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. Our dedicated team fought to make the Denton daycare center answer for violating several childcare laws that caused the little girl’s injuries and acting negligently in their response to the incident. We got justice for the little girl and her parents by securing life-changing results to cover the girl’s medical bills and trauma, to help the family move forward.
How Did the Denton Daycare Center Fail the 4-Year-Old Girl and Her Parents?
What makes this case so frustrating is that the little girl’s injuries were entirely preventable. (She or her parents never had to suffer.) The Denton daycare center and its caregivers did not follow Texas childcare laws, also known as minimum standards, in their operations and their response to the little girl’s health emergency. The center broke standards, including:
- Closely watching children at all times. Had caregivers properly supervised the child, they would have seen her reaching for the magnet fragments and could have quickly intervened before she put them in her mouth. Their improper supervision caused her to get hurt.
- Contact emergency medical services for any child’s illness or injury that requires immediate attention. Instead of calling 911, caregivers responded by trying to make the child vomit up the magnet fragments.
- Daycare directors should supervise their employees and caregivers to ensure they know and comply with the minimum standards. That did not happen in this case.
- Keeping the daycare center free of hazards that may cause bodily injury or choking. The magnet fragments should have immediately been discarded along with the broken toy.
A state investigation found that a caregiver had removed the magnet fragments from the broken toy but set them aside instead of throwing them away, thus leaving them accessible to a child. The state cited the Denton daycare center for not taking the right safety precaution by not disposing of the pieces immediately.
How Did The Button Law Firm Make the Denton Daycare Center Answer For its Failures?
The Denton daycare center failed the little girl and her parents on all fronts. The girl’s parents paid the daycare center to keep their daughter safe during the workday and give them peace of mind. Instead, they experienced trauma, pain, and costly medical bills, all because the center they trusted breached its duty of care.
As we shared earlier in this article, the 4-year-old girl had to be rushed to a local children’s hospital for treatment after swallowing and ingesting a foreign body. She underwent an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, which looked at her upper GI tract to determine where the magnets were in the digestion process. Unfortunately, the Denton daycare center’s delayed response to the incident meant that the magnet fragments had already passed through the girl’s stomach and could not be removed. The little girl and her parents were forced to spend two nights in the hospital with around-the-clock monitoring while waiting for the magnets to pass through her digestive system naturally, which, in addition to being a very traumatic experience, led to unexpected and expensive medical bills.
Even after being discharged from the hospital, the little girl’s distress continued, manifesting via tantrums and extreme mood swings that had her reacting by screaming, crying, stomping, and throwing her toys. She developed a fear of going to any daycare and refused to be alone. She followed her parents wherever they went and even refused to go to the bathroom alone.
Our experienced daycare injury lawyers fought for this little girl and her family, and held the daycare center in Denton accountable for all of its violations of the minimum standards that could have easily prevented the incident. With our help, the daycare center took responsibility to help the little girl’s physical, emotional, and psychological recovery after such a traumatic experience. The result helped the family overcome the life-changing event and allowed them to move forward.
Was Your Child Harmed at a Daycare Center? Contact The Button Law Firm.
If your child was harmed because a daycare center did not comply with Texas childcare safety laws, contact our experienced daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With lawyers in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our lawyers at The Button Law Firm are recognized on the prestigious Texas Super Lawyers list, and we can help guide you after a traumatizing incident involving your child. We work on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case. Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at [email protected], or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.
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