When the Cardinal Calls: The Cut Chapter
If you read When the Cardinal Calls then you know that there was one chapter that was cut after final editing. It was a chapter that involved information about bunk bed safety and Tim felt strongly that it should have been included. However, instead of trying to add it back into the original book he decided to just share it here. There’s a lot to say about this particular chapter, but it’s probably best to just let you read it, so here you go!
Chapter: Bunk Bed Safety
Once I felt strong enough, I began working on bunk bed safety as I wanted to address this issue in a serious manner. In this “bonus” section you will find my thoughts and see some steps I took working with governmental entities. I’m including this because I still think that the public should be more educated regarding the many hidden dangers that exist all around us. I hope you find this additional information helpful.
Eventually, I knew that we would have to face the reality that our child’s death was not just an accident. It was much more than that. It was something that needed to be addressed in order to ensure that no other family faced such a horrifying moment.
So I made the appointment and finally sat down with our local Congressman at that time, Pat Tiberi. Child safety, specifically bunk bed safety, was the top priority on the agenda for our meeting that day.
Here are some of the things that I uncovered during my research in preparation for that meeting. The hidden dangers regarding cribs and bunk beds has long been known and has previously been discussed at the federal level. All the way back in 1984, a 23-month-old boy suffered brain damage when he entangled on a corner post extension of his crib. This tragic event led to the formation of the Danny Foundation and they advocated for years on these issues (on a national level).
So why, in 2013, would we, the public, not be aware that these dangers existed? Why was it not common knowledge that cribs and bunk beds could prove fatal to a child if they do not meet certain standards? And why were the standards for bunk beds voluntary when children have continuously died over the years?
Stop and think about how many bunk beds still exist, even today, that probably don’t come close to being safe for use by children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in a 2015 decision, stated that there is not an “unreasonable risk of injury”. Yet per the CPSC’s own report, there is “at least one death every four years,” plus additional serious injuries.
This is somehow deemed acceptable by their standards. Our federal government has chosen to disregard the safety of our children to appease the manufacturers of these products. How can anyone justify that rationale?
After realizing the history on this topic was disturbing, to say the least, I dug even further. I found that the American Furniture Manufacturer’s Association was quoted in a 2004 article as saying that they were “concerned about maintaining the look of bunk beds” and they were against the government setting required standards.
So multiple injuries, some of which are very serious, and approximately one child’s death every four years is acceptable as long as the beds look nice. I fully understand that they were concerned about the financial ramifications of potential new requirements, but just one death should have been enough for everyone to stop and rethink the design of a product that is marketed directly to families and is intended for use by children. To handle this any other way is pure negligence by all parties involved.
I would implore people to check their bunk beds for safety (as many older models still do not meet today’s standards). Like most people, I knew that bunk beds could be dangerous for younger children, but I always pictured a child falling or jumping off of the bed and injuring an arm or a leg. I never, ever, in my wildest dreams considered that a bunk bed could be fatal for a child.
Now that we know exactly how dangerous they are, we feel that we must tell everyone out there to do your research, think about your child’s safety first, and do not assume that it won’t happen to you. We were not the first to experience this unusual situation and unfortunately I doubt that we will be the last.
Does your bunk bed have any areas where a child could get caught or fall through? Is there an area between the bunk bed and a wall where the child could get trapped? Are there any extending poles such as the end posts where a child could get caught on?
I am not a safety expert nor could I begin to tell you exactly what to look for, but if it were me I would examine the bed very carefully and consider any possible entrapment areas or places where a child could get caught. Then again, after my experience, I would never have a bunk bed in my home.
You may know that they say that the top bunk is not safe for any child under the age of seven, but if your bunk bed is similar to the one that we had you may not have seen the warning label. On our bed they actually put that label on the inside of the railing of the top bunk.
It was literally located in a place where you would never notice it. When the people came to set up the bed for us originally, they never mentioned the potential safety concerns. When the salesperson sold us the bed, they never mentioned the fact that bunk beds have caused numerous deaths over the years.
Congressman Tiberi was moved by our story and, with young children of his own, understood our struggle. He felt our pain and I give him credit for taking our concerns seriously. In fact, it wasn’t long after my meeting with him before I received a phone call from the CPSC.
Who exactly is the CPSC? The Consumer Product Safety Commission is an independent federal agency that answers directly to Congress. The President is tasked specifically with product safety as a whole, but the CPSC is the agency in charge of gathering information and handling product safety issues.
During my call with them, I was informed that Seth’s accident had garnered a lot of attention and I was assured that they were taking his death very seriously. Thus they needed me to participate in a report surrounding the details of how he died.
As such, I spent time answering their general questions and then the very personal and extremely specific questions about the night of the accident. I provided much more information than I was comfortable with, but I did it.
As you can imagine it was extremely difficult because it took me right back to that night and I was forced to re-live every step of my son’s death all over again.
My conversation on the phone that day with the CPSC was another reminder of how difficult it is to discuss such horrid details of my Seth’s death. After hanging up, I spent the rest of the night agitated and extremely upset.
I found myself shaking, my heart pounding, and my brain numb. It was quite similar to what I had felt the night of the accident, after we had left the hospital (and the next several nights thereafter).
You just sort of wander around, lost inside your own mind, not sure where you are going or what to do. You are thinking, yet not really thinking anything at all. Eventually, I ended up at Seth’s grave.
I cried many tears as I knelt there beside my son and the pain was once again excruciating. All of the improvement that I thought I had made since March 20, 2013 suddenly seemed gone. I’m not ashamed to tell you that it broke me. I wasn’t sure that I could keep going on at that particular moment in time.
Luckily Troy, who I had called to talk with, was quick to join me at Seth’s grave that day. I really felt like it was all coming apart at that moment. Had Troy not shown up, I’m not sure how the night would have played out. God puts the right people in our path when we need it the most. Thankfully, my call was answered that day.
As I know look back on it, I realize that people still fail to think about the potential fatalities that could result from bunk beds and so my message to the CPSC was truly important, as difficult as it may have been at the time.
I made the point that additional (and better) marketing to parents and consumers regarding bunk bed safety needed to get out. Yes, the disclaimers say that “serious injury” could occur and that “no one under the age of seven” should be on the top bunk of the bed and all of those things, but I do not personally consider that warning to be worded strongly enough.
If a person reads that an “injury” could occur it may stop them for a second and make them briefly think about the safety of the product. They’ll likely be like me and wonder, “Could my child fall off of the top bunk and hit his head? Could he break an arm or a leg?”
Obviously those are serious concerns, but not ones that seem life-threatening in any way and so a person likely thinks of that particular product a certain way as far as risks and rewards are concerned. However, if you read that a “fatality” could occur for a child under the age of seven, I bet that would change your mindset very quickly. I think most of us would likely avoid that product at all cost upon reading that.
At the very minimum, at least people would be warned that the possibility of death exists. We did not get that message and now for us it is too late. Our child’s life was cut short due to the bunk bed that we had in our home and our negligence about the safety of the product.
That fact will forever haunt us, but we will continue to work towards our new charity’s mission to “educate the public on child safety issues” and to “promote positive relationships within the family unit, specifically those between the parent and child.”
Hopefully, we can help save lives and encourage families to spend quality time together in the process, because #MemoriesMatter and #SafetyMatters. That’s why we formed and registered The Seth Maceyko Snuggle Time Foundation as a 501c3 non-profit and continue to work to educate others.
Update: We were informed by a reporter that was covering our story that the CPSC stated that Seth’s death was “insignificant” due to the low number of deaths that occur in the same manner. He became merely a statistic that didn’t truly matter when the media inquired on our behalf.
However, we also found that some bunk beds are now placing the warning labels in more prominent spots on the railing, which are more easily seen. It also appears that some of those labels even warn that a “fatality” could occur which is a huge improvement.
So maybe Seth’s death did mean something despite their claim that it was “insignificant.” I’m not sure how the CPSC really viewed it, because they have never shared additional information with us.
At the very least, it appears that some minor changes have been made and that’s a start. As dad, I do have to add that my son’s death was very significant. It was significant in many ways, regardless of what the Federal Government may say. Just ask my wife.
