Permanent Severe Eye Injury Devastates Young Mother March 14, 2010.

In a case truly bizarre in its outcome, a young mother is severely injured by a child’s toy. She is no longer able to live life as she once knew it.

When we heard about this case, we found it to be very disturbing for a number of reasons. The first one was that it involved a dangerous/defective child’s toy that totally destroyed the life of a young mother.

The second reason is that the law relating to defective product design and failure to adequately warn users of potential problems weren’t addressed properly or sufficiently when the toy, a Juggling Disc, was marketed. Products liability law involves addressing issues of fault, quality control, marketing, design and other matters.

Consumers buy and use products expecting they will perform their intended function, and be safe to use. In light of government and industry standards, this is a reasonable expectation. However, despite efforts to keep products safe, people are still injured by dangerous products.

What happened here is that the young mother had this "toy" thrown to her and in the process sustained a life altering eye injury. This item was marketed as a child’s toy, but was actually a set of professional juggling discs. Those discs, due to the way they are made – very rigid, with no flexibility – are not really intended for first time users and they are definitely not suitable for children. Nonetheless, for some reason the maker of the Juggling Discs was marketing them in the toy section of stores without any warning or age recommendations.

The disc thrown at this young woman hit her in the right eye causing trauma so severe the eye will likely die, and need to be removed. If that happens, she will need an eye transplant. Currently her cornea and iris are so traumatized she needs transplants. The pupil and sclera are also damaged and she also suffered an enormous loss of vitreous fluid from the eye.

Her medical restrictions are so rigorous she is unable to care for her 3-year-old son and must live life lying down at a 45-degree angle awake and asleep. She may not drive, go to college or work. She is not able to lift anything over ten pounds, must not bend over for anything, sneeze too much, and needs to regularly take laxatives to alleviate eye pressure. She may not get her eye wet and her family needs to give her all medications.

Her injuries are so devastating, she needs constant care at all times; something that is quite costly since she is facing future eye surgery, various medications and therapy and counseling. Her whole future has gone up in smoke because of a child’s toy that is so dangerous it results in catastrophic eye damage.

When bad things happen to good people, it’s time to talk to a highly skilled personal injury attorney, who will take a case such as this to court to get justice for the innocent victim. Makers of "toys" like this need to be held accountable for their defective product design, quality control and insufficient marketing.