Baby left in hot car survives
An infant left in a car for 2 hours on a 90 degree day has somehow survived, although he is in critical condition. The mother says she “forgot” the child was in the car. We can see accidentally leaving your dog out in the yard, but forgetting your baby out in the hot sun? How scatterbrained do you have to be?
Given the length of time the boy spent in the vehicle and the scorching temperatures inside the car, it’s remarkable the 5-month-old boy didn’t die in Tuesday’s incident, said Jan Null, a meteorologist and adjunct professor at San Francisco State University who studies the trend of hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles.
“That amount of time on a 90-degree day, temperatures after the first hour are going to be at 130 degrees in the car,” Null said.
“I’m surprised the child did not die. Maybe the child was well-hydrated. There’s a lot of variables that we don’t know.”
The vehicle was parked in a driveway in direct sunlight. Null said body cells and organs start dying at about 107 degrees. In researching cases where children are left in hot cars, he has noticed that many suffer brain damage if they survive the incident.
Information from: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9630921
