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Missouri Baby's Death Blamed on Simplicity Bassinet

Model was not included in last month's recall of 1 million cribs

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 10, 2007     Spanish

Simplicity • Missouri Baby's Death Blamed on Simplicity Bassinet • Nearly 1 Million Simplicity & Graco Cribs Recalled After Infant Deaths • Simplicity Nursery-in-a-Box Cribs • Simplicity White Lancaster Cribs • Graco Aspen Cribs Recalled for Suffocation Risk --- • Simplicity Complaints

Authorities in Pineville, Missouri, say a 4-month-old girl has died in a Simplicity Inc. 4-in-1 bassinet that was not part of last month's recall of 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs.

B.J. Goodwin, McDonald County coroner, said Katelynn Marie Simon died Sept. 29 of “accidental positional asphyxiation” after she was caught between the rail of the bassinet and the mattress, The Joplin Globe reported.

Local officials said they contacted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) immediately.

“We filed a report with them the first day,” deputy sheriff Jeff Sutherland said, the Globe reported. “We wanted to get them involved as quickly as possible to get this thing (bassinet) off the market.”

Sutherland said a CPSC investigator brought a doll similar in size and weight to Katelynn, and that the death was “re-enacted” at the sheriff’s office. He said the child’s torso became caught in a gap between the rail of the bassinet and the mattress.

“She was feet down and in a position that every time she exhaled, she slipped down a little further,” he said, according to the Globe's report. “She got down far enough that her chest couldn’t expand to breathe.”

Sutherland said the product is available at Wal-Mart and Target stores, and online.

Made in China

The bassinet -- model No. 3112DOH6 -- has Winnie the Pooh decorations. Its label says it was made in China for Simplicity. The model does not appear in the product section of Simplicity's Web site.

Last month's recall came after reports of three infant deaths.

The drop-side can detach from the crib, which can create a dangerous gap and lead to the entrapment and suffocation of infants.

The CPSC said it was aware of two deaths in Simplicity manufactured cribs with older style hardware, including a 9-month-old child and a 6-month-old child, where the drop-side was installed upside down.

CPSC is also investigating the death of a 1-year-old child in a Simplicity crib with newer style hardware, in which the drop-side was installed upside down. CPSC is also aware of seven infant entrapments and 55 incidents in these cribs, it said.

Last June, Simplicity recalled about 40,000 of its Nursery-in-a-Box Cribs because of a choking and fall hazard.

Fix it yourself

In the recall of 1 million cribs last month, Simplicity officials said they would send parents repair kits with new hardware that would correct the problem, but an investigation by the Illinois Attorney General uncovered flaws in the program..

An investigator in Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office called Simplicity posing as a consumer and asked for one of the repair kits. It was sent overnight to her.

When she opened it, pieces of plastic hardware fell out, but there were no instructions on what to do with them, Madigan's office said.

Cara Smith, the Madigan aide who received the repair kit without any instructions, said it illustrated how Simplicity and the CPSC "appear to be no closer to making consumers safe" than they were before the recall, the largest of full-size cribs in U.S. history.

Who knew what when?

An investigation by The Chicago Tribune found that Simplicity and the CPSC knew for more than two years that the faulty hardware and improper installation could leave babies vulnerable to suffocating in the cribs.

The Tribune said it found numerous complaints about the design of a popular Simplicity crib, the Aspen 3 in 1. It said the complaints documented the failure of the federal watchdog agency to fully investigate the death of 9-month-old Liam Johns in 2005.

The drop rail on Liam's crib separated from its frame, and the infant asphyxiated when he slipped feet-first though the gap, in an accident similar to that which befell the Missouri child.

Wrong parts

In Kokomo, Indiana, a ConsumerAffairs.com reader complained that she had reported damaged items and missing hardware in Simplicity's Crib'n Changer Combo. Lee Ann said she was afraid to put her daughter in its crib because of its instability.

"The changer seperates from the crib far enough where I have been concered for my daughters safety, not to mention the hardware replacements I continue to this day to still ask for," she said.

Lee Ann said she called the 800 number supplied with the crib and Simplicity agreed to send replacement parts, but then sent the wrong parts. "It is exhausting to go through this over and over, and then when a box finally arrives, it's the wrong thing," she said.

Read more consumer comments about Simplicity products.

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