How can an adult leave a child in a hot car?

[Patrick57]

As I came out of Circuit City yesterday afternoon, there were cops, fire dept and paramedics all over the place. An officer came up asking if I owned a Ford sedan, I told him no, and showed him the truck I drive. Looking towards a fast-food place, I saw emergency people holding and examining a toddler no more than 1 1/2 years old. You could tell the child was in severe distress, the paramedics were cracking and applying cold packs to get her temp down. She looked alert, and responding.

Yep, another stupid adult leaving a child in a locked car in the middle of the afternoon. The temp outside was 100. This is the first time I've ever witnessed this, and became physically ill. I became so angry, it took me a while to calm down.

It reminds me when I was doing my clinical for my EMT in an emergency room years ago. The mother came in with a baby who was bruised and having trouble breathing. The cops came, and the mother admitted her boyfriend did it. Soon after, the boyfriend came in demanding to see the child. I started after him, and the cops had to restrain me, and get the guy out fast. The cops understood my feelings, but had to keep me down to protect me. I did get some satisfaction when I saw the cops trying to help the guy in the car, and just couldn't seem to get his head down far enough and kept hitting his head trying to get in. :chuckle

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

Stupidity runs rampant.

[NeosynephRN]

That happened a few years ago near me..the woman was a nurse and the lil girl died..tragic...tragic.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Parents sometimes do it out of pure laziness. It is easier for them to shop while leaving the baby in the car, so they don't have to be 'bothered'.

Other people do it out of sheer ignorance, not realizing that locking a very young child in a car on a hot day can be hazardous to the kid's health.

[Grumpygs, MSN, RN]

I agree - stupid, lazy, tragic...

I just can't imagine doing something so stupid and then having to live with the consequences - just for the sake of convenience or because they don't want to either carry a sleeping child, take the time to pull out the stroller or be 'bothered' while they shop...

It is hard to believe this continues to happen - but it does...

[leslie :-D]

it goes soooooo far beyond being lazy...

leslie:twocents:

[namaste_71]

To the person leaving the kid in the car:

Hmm ... let's see ... when you get in your car after it's sat in the hot sun, it's bloody HOT in the car. So hot you probably can't touch the steering wheel or the metal part of the seat buckle.

So -- even if you are dumber than grass -- you should be able to tell that leaving your kid inside that car will harm her! Would you, yourself sit in a closed-up car, in the sun, in the heat?

During summer, I always see warnings from the local SPCA to avoid leaving animals in a hot car, yet I see few warnings regarding children. Sad.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I know of at least one case around here where it wasn't ignorance or laziness that caused this...it was plain ol' human forgetfulness.

I know, I know....how can you forget your child is in the backseat of a car? If you have a quiet child, like mine was, I could easily see it happening. It was the parent (in this case a father) who was not usually the one who took the baby to daycare who got in the car and went to work - forgetting the baby was in the back seat. 8 hours later he comes back and baby is dead.

Doesn't change the outcome, but this father was not lazy nor ignorant.

Just human. So sad.

[Quickbeam, BSN, RN]

My opinion? Too many news items on this topic end with: "there will be no charges pressed; it was determined that the parents have suffered enough". I think it is time they start prosecuting these people. It won't bring the dead children back but it may have a deterrent effect.

CSI did a show a few years ago about people who killed their child this way on purpose, counting on the "they suffered enough" defense.

I feel the same way about people who back their huge SUVs over their toddlers.

[Plagueis]

I would think that PSAs about not leaving young kids by themselves in cars, whether it is hot or not, would be useless. People tend to do dumb things anyway, despite warnings about possible dangers. (i.e. those PSAs about safe haven laws, but babies being left in garbage cans still.)

I still find it hard to understand how some people who have done this claim that they "forgot" they had a baby or young child with them. I have only one child, and there was NO WAY that she would let me forget that she was in a car with me. I know that some kids may be the quiet type (less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of them), but I just can't wrap my head around the idea that a parent would be so absentminded as to not recall that he or she brought a child with him or her to the store.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

As a mother of 2, I can say with quite certainty that it is most impossible to forget you baby or child in the car! HELLO, when you go into wherever your destination is, your not use to having your child with? The diaper bag and later on the child.... I just don't get it. I never even went in to pay for gas while my baby/child stayed in the car. You just don't know these days.......

[BinkieRN, BSN, RN]

I saw it happen in the parking lot at K-Mart. I parked next to a minivan with two children both under the age of 2 in car seats in the back seat crying and it was very hot outside and the kids were sweating profusely. I called the police. The mother came out and asked me why I was standing there. I told here what she had done was child abuse. She said the van is running and the AC is on. I said you've got the keys in your hand and the van is not running. About that time the police showed up and I left.