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25 Sivan 5760 - June 28, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
Shabbos Urns Major Source of Children's Burn Injuries
by N. Katzin

A new study conducted in the Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem indicates that every year, scores of children suffer severe burns as a result of accidents from Shabbos hot water urns. According to the study, which was published for the first time in Yated Ne'eman, 20% of burns suffered by children who were subsequently hospitalized were caused by Shabbos urns.

Director of the Sha'arei Tzedek Plastic Surgery Department, Dr. Yaakov Golan and Dr. Azis Shufani who conducted the study, stressed that such accidents can be prevented. The experts call upon the public to increase their awareness of the danger and to seek technical solutions to prevent such horrible accidents.

Ten cases in which children required hospitalization for such burns occurred yearly for the past ten years. The incidence of burns from Shabbos urns is actually much higher than indicated by the study, since the study includes only severe cases which led to hospitalization and severe functional and/or esthetic damage, often lifelong. One case ended in death, Rachmono litzlan.

These accidents are often serious because of the large amount of hot water involved. The treatment is often long and difficult, and is often not successful in reversing all of the damage.

Dr. Shufani reports that the most common ages of those burned is between 3 and 9 years old. A striking statistic is that 77% of those injured are girls.

The researchers speculate that this may be because the clothing worn by girls is more likely to catch onto a protruding cover or faucet of the hot water urn. Another factor may be that girls spend more time in the kitchen where the urns are.

Dr. Yaakov Golan, head of plastic surgery at Sha'arei Tzedek, says that these tragic accidents are preventable. "I ask the community and everyone who is active in this area to increase the public's awareness of the dangers. Also, there should be efforts in the direction of designing hot water urns that are technically safer, including means of anchoring them in place and developing a safety faucet."

 

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