You probably heard about the tragic ‘dry drowning’ incident that took the life of a 10-year old South Carolina boy recently. The Today Show did a big story about this dry drowning found here.
This kind of news frightens parents of babies, toddlers, small children or tweens everywhere. Who would have thought? But before you let the media hype take you away, it is important to understand exactly what a dry drowning is, how can be caused, how you can recognize the onset of symptoms, and most of all, administer prevention so it never happens.
What is a Dry Drowning?
The coined phrase comes from the fact the drowning occurs when the person is out of the water. WebMD describes it as a delayed affect of a very small amount of water having entered the lungs. The dry drowning can occur an hour to 24-hours later.
Wikipedia further explains that when water is inhaled, a laryngospasm occurs — this is when the when the epiglottis creates a water-tight seal over the trachea, and the trachea leads to the lungs. Lack of oxygen to the blood causes circulation issues (the boy died technically of a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital). The lack of oxygen also narrows the lungs, and fluid essentially fills up any available air spaces.
What Can Cause a Dry Drowning?
Water is inhaled into the lungs. For this to happen, you have to really be submerged for quite some time without air. The kids I teach swallow water into the tummy all the time which is quite normal — but as soon as they do, I give them assistance and let them cough it out. There was no one in the pool assisting the boy, who was a non-swimmer. (More on this later).
How common is a dry drowning? I’ve found sites claiming dry drownings make up for anywhere from 10-20% of all drownings (the Center for Disease Control states 10-15%). If 8,000 people drown a year (with 4,000 in the U.S.), that’s a small number when considering the dry drowing stats and probably why not a lot of people have ever heard of it.
What are the Symptoms of a Dry Drowning?
The Today Show featured an expert interview with Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician from New York University Langone Medical Center. Rauch sited three important signs: Difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior; also a persistent cough. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.
Also, a big symptom to me would be the person is not known to be a safe, good or strong swimmer.
How Can a Dry Drowning Be Prevented?
If you suspect water entered your child’s lungs, you should go to the emergency room. Treatment involves supplying oxygen to the lungs and getting normal breathing started again.
The South Carolina dry drowning incident unveils a lot of Red Flags parents can learn from. Here’s how you want to reduce them:
- Know your child’s swimming abilites. First, the Today Show’s article reports this was the first time the 10-year old has ever gone swimming. That means the child was not a strong swimmer nor accustomed to pools.
- Watch for usual or unsafe pool incidents. The article also reveals he “had and accident in the pool,” and another article sited that “he soiled himself” but yet another article said he “defecated in his pants twice on the way home.” A 10-year old defecating in the pool or afterwards clearly indicate something happened. Not being able to breathe is enough to cause a body to panic and commit such a physically response. Or he is not in control of his bowel movements (ie. possibly be physically challenged).
- More on ability or special circumstances. Upon more Internet digging, I came up with this article from The Charleston Post & Carrier that reported the boy was “autistic and suffered from attention deficit and a social phobia.” We know that drowning is the leading cause of death for autistic populations, because I wrote about it here.
- Professional supervision. Despite the fact the boy was with his mom (I don’t believe she was in the pool), the swimming occurred at an apartment pool complex which means there was no lifeguard on duty. The mother was reported as knowing her son had ingested a lot of water. A lifeguard is trained to witnessed something wrong happening and take action. A lifeguard would have never let the 10-year old in the water alone with just a pair of kiddie water wings, which he was wearing.
Any tragedy will cause a person to retrace their steps. I am not looking to be right: This information is being presented for the sake of prevention. There is still a lot of debate as well as misinformation about dry drowning and the difference between delayed or secondary drowning, and actual stats of the two, so I will probably revisit the issue. There are more questions I want answered. At any rate, don’t always trust the media — the story that is circulating the most on this incident is based on hype, misinformation, and limited facts. Study the medical sites, experts, and trusted journalists.
Friday, September 19, 2008 at 3:06 am |
I sent the following to one paper with my concerns.
I hope you will read about my growing concerns that this may not have been a pool accident, but rather a bathtub incident. If I’m am right, the public needs to know, as well as the other obvious things that should happen. This story has had every mother I know “freaking” out and we all could have it all wrong.
She told you, per your article that “he inhaled a lot of water.” However, just this week on the Oprah Winfrey show, she was interviewed on tape and said, “he only went under water for a hair second.”
Please consider the following:
1. He had never swam before, but he was ten years old. He could stand well above the water where she said he was swimming. He even had floatation devices on.
2. She said his face went under water only two times. And, he only coughed a little. I have had several episodes of pool related coughing and gagging among my group of younger children. At times they sounded like they were going to vomit, but they were FINE.
3. Most of the time in dry drowning cases, water has to be forcibly inhaled, such as when a child jumps off the high dive and is unprepared for the extreme plunge and rush of water. Not the case here.
4. Most of the time the child gets extremely tired and starts breathing shallowly. If a mother sees her child suddenly lethargic or unable to catch their breath, she NOTICES. Obviously, Mrs. Jackson didn’t notice these things and you would think a mother of an autistic child would always be over cautious.
Here is what is most interesting. (I beg you to keep reading.) Her son pooped in the pool. This was her first time at the pool. Normally, they make everyone get out of the pool when someone defecates in the pool. It is an embarrassing situation for the child and can be humiliating to the mother, especially of a TEN year old child. There are other accounts that he may have pooped twice at home. It doesn’t matter which way it happened.
The mother said she took the child home and “gave him a bath.” No one I know gives their ten year old child a bath. They are old enough to take care of themselves. If he did “it” in the pool, then he couldn’t have been too dirty in any case. Even if he had the accidents occurred at home, I still can’t see a mother literally washing her son off in the tub, when he’s old enough to help himself. I know younger autistic children that can bathe themselves.
I think there is more than a high probability that the mother, in a fit of rage, man handled her son in the bathtub and something tragic happened. She was angry that he defecated. She was overwhelmed taking care of him, who is also reported to have ADHD. If this was the case, you can imagine that the boy would be screaming and crying because he was in TROUBLE. I think the mother may have pushed his face into the water, while he was crying, and THAT is WHEN he INHALED water in the TUB. It is easier to imagine this happening and not so easy to imagine him getting water in his lungs at the pool where there was no act of near drowning.
She didn’t mean to cause his death and she wasn’t trying to drown him on purpose, but she may be the one responsible for putting him in the situation where he inhaled the water and later died.
I honestly think, if you sit back and piece the events together, based on her own accounts, dry drowning isn’t likely. I think her own interview on Oprah incriminates her. The fact SHE BATHED HIM and was probably angry from the events at the pool means she should not be ruled out as a suspect in this horrible event. Minimally, she should take a lie detector test. Unfortunately, we can’t bring her son back. But, she does have a young daughter, who at this very moment, could be in harms way.
I hope you will find out whether the water in his lungs was tested for chlorine and what the chlorine levels are in her town water. Sometimes tap water can have much chlorine as pool water, making it more difficult to distinguish a pool drowning or a tub incident.
I just don’t think her story is adding up, unfortunately and I hope you’re in a position to do something further if you agree.