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Dry Drowning Warning For Parents

By Eddie Farah

The death of a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina this week while lying in his own bed, has brought attention to the little known "dry drowning."

Johnny Jackson had gone for a swim in his neighborhood and walked home with his mother. He seemed fine except that his mother says he soiled himself, and then started talking slowly. He was sleepy. He lay down to take a nap and about one hour later he was dead.

Parents need to understand how dry drowning works. When water gets into the lungs, and it doesn't have to be much, a child can asphyxiate. Lungs immersed in fluid are unable to take in oxygen from the air, but even with a small amount of water, Wikipedia says the "laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic pulmonary edema."

Basically when you breath, the diaphragm contracts, increases the volume of air into the lungs from the outside. During laryngospasm the person's larynx spasm shuts. Air does not rush into the lungs. The heart is beating the blood flowing but it is not picking up oxygen.

Dry drowning can happen when someone has forceful contact with the water, such as from high diving or a water slide. Or just from summer fun in a pool, or even from a bath.

But the signs can be delayed and doctors don't know why. Signs are extreme fatigue and strange behavior which results from a reduction in oxygen to the brain. They need to get to an emergency room and have a breathing tube inserted so oxygen can be forced into the lungs so they regain their function.

3,600 people drowned in 2005, according to the CDC. About 10 to 15 percent were dry drownings, which can occur up to 24 hours after water is breathed into the lungs.

Johnny's mother, Cassandra Jackson, just didn't know, like most of us wouldn't.

"I feel like someone reached in and grabbed my heart and just yanked it out," she says.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).