Legal News

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is again urging all parents and caregivers to immediately stop using many convertible "close-sleeper/bedside sleeper" bassinets made by Simplicity, Inc. Since an August 2008 recall, the CPSC has learned of two more infants who died by suffocation and strangulation in the bassinets.

This alert applies to 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible bassinets manufactured by Simplicity, including those rebranded with the Graco logo and Winnie the Pooh logo licensed by Disney.

Affected bassinets were manufactured before May 18 of 2008. For a list of model numbers and how to identify problem bassinets, see the CPSC?s alert notice.

That brings the total of known infant deaths in the Simplicity close-sleeper to four.

The deaths reported by the CPSC in August of last year included a four month old and a five month old who were strangled when they became trapped between the bassinet?s metal bars.

The newly reported deaths include:

• the September 2008 death of a two month old girl who suffocated after becoming trapped in a pocket that formed near the velcro fasteners of the bassinet?s adjustable fabric; and
• the January 2009 death of a six month old girl died after becoming trapped in the bassinet?s bar openings when the velcro straps were not fastened.

The CSPC hse also received word of a three week old and a ten week old whose heads became stuck between the lower bassinet bar and the mattress support. Caregivers freed these two without injury.

Parents or caregivers using the bassinets should immediately stop. They can be returned to the retail store where purchased.

• August 2008 CPSC Warning re Simplicity Close-Sleeper Bassinets
• Infant/Child Product Recalls (not including toys) (CPSC)
• Study: Babies should sleep on their backs, but magazine ads rarely depict them that way (NY Daily News)
• Personal Injuries from Dangerous or Defective Products (provided by Wintersyonker & Rousselle PSC)
• Types of defective products (provided by Blizzard Mccarthy & Nabers)