• Inadequate safety equipment

• Inadequate fencing around a neighborhood pool

• A neighbor leaving a pool or spa uncovered, attracting neighborhood kids to a known hazard

• Defective pool equipment, including faulty or uncovered pool drains

• Inadequate lifeguard supervision or CPR assistance at a pool

• Dangerous conditions, including faulty pool maintenance at a school, hotel or water park

Common Boating and Drowning Accident Injuries

Near Drowning

Perhaps the most common injury associated with all forms of water recreation is near-drowning. This type of injury can occur in essentially any setting where water or liquid is sufficiently deep enough for a person to be unable to breathe or have their breathing impaired by the presence of liquid around their respiratory system. One does not even need to have their head fully submerged to nearly drown and the amount of water needed is often surprisingly low in some cases.

Near drowning is basically when the aforementioned presence of water starves a person of oxygen which can have a number of dangerous effects, the most obvious being hypoxia. Many organs have their functions and impaired by the lack of oxygen caused by near-drowning and also the introduction of water into the respiratory system. Near drowning commonly causes a number of additional issues and complications among those that are affected such as brain damage, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, to name some of the more common examples.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

What can be especially terrifying is a traumatic brain injury that occurs near a body of water. Many people every year end up suffering blows to the head while engaging in water recreation and can nearly drown as a result. Traumatic brain injuries occur when a powerful force acts upon the head and causes damage to the brain. This can cause a number of debilitating symptoms that affect cognition, personality, and bodily health in general. Perhaps the most important symptom of a traumatic brain injury in this situation is unconsiousness. Traumatic brain injuries are notoriously difficult to treat and often cause permanent damage.

Broken or Fractured Bones

People engaging in water-related recreational activities such as boating or swimming can sometimes suffer physical trauma that can break or fracture bones. In many cases, these injuries are fairly simple and result in a clean break that is treatable through setting the bone in a cast where it will heal over several weeks. Unfortunately, broken bones are not always so simple. Occasionally, a person may break a bone in a way that can compromise one of their internal organs or blood vessels causing internal bleeding. In other instances, the organs themselves may suffer damage that impedes its function. For example, a broken pelvis damaging abdominal organs or cracked vertebrae damaging the spinal cord.