http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchausen_syndrome_by_proxy

Not saying it's the case here but I am convinced that lots of parents are just looking to knock off their kids.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission just released this brief in late September:

CPSC Urges Parents to Inspect and Secure TVs, Furniture, and Appliances to Prevent Tip-Over Deaths and Injuries

WASHINGTON, D.C. - For young children, the home is a playground, and while many parents childproof to ensure that their home is a safe place, some may not be aware that unsecured TVs, furniture and appliances are hidden hazards lurking in every room. Today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging parents once again to take simple, low-cost steps to prevent deaths and injuries associated with furniture, TV, and appliance tip-overs.

CPSC staff estimates that in 2006, 16,300 children 5 years old and younger were treated in emergency rooms because of injuries associated with TV, furniture, and appliance tip-overs, and between 2000 and 2006, CPSC staff received reports (pdf) of 134 tip-over related deaths. Additionally, CPSC staff is aware of at least 30 media reports of tip-over deaths since January 2007 involving this same age group.

?Many parents are unaware of the deadly danger of this hidden hazard. I urge parents to include securing TVs, furniture, and appliances in their childproofing efforts,? said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. ?Taking a few moments now can prevent a tip-over tragedy later.?

?You may think your home is safe, but everyday things like a television can hurt your child. I was right there and it happened,? said Sylvia Santiago, of West Haven, Connecticut who lost her two-year old daughter in 2008.

Typically, injuries and deaths occur when children climb onto, fall against, or pull themselves up on television stands, shelves, bookcases, dressers, desks, chests, and appliances. In some cases, televisions placed on top of furniture tip over and cause a child to suffer traumatic and sometimes fatal injuries. ?The most devastating injuries that we see resulting from furniture tipping on children are injuries to the brain and when a child is trapped under a heavy piece of furniture and suffocates,? said Gary Smith, MD, DrPH, Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children?s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Recent revisions to the voluntary safety standards for clothes storage units provide for the inclusion of warning labels and additional hardware to secure the furniture to the floor or wall. To help prevent tip-over hazards, CPSC offers the following safety tips:

Furniture should be stable on its own. For added security, anchor chests or dressers, TV stands, bookcases and entertainment units to the floor or attach them to a wall.


Place TVs on a sturdy, low-rise base. Avoid flimsy shelves.


Push the TV as far back as possible.


Place electrical cords out of a child?s reach, and teach kids not to play with them.


Keep remote controls and other attractive items off the TV stand so kids won?t be tempted to grab for them and risk knocking the TV over.


Make sure free-standing ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.

Jersey City 2 year old injured by falling television

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
October 15, 2009, 4:17PM

A 2-year-old Downtown Jersey City boy was rushed to the Jersey City Medical Center then a facility specializing in pediatric head trauma after a television set fell from a countertop and hit him in the head this morning, officials said.

When police arrived at the residence at Hudson and Essex streets the boy was already being moved from the 21st-floor home by emergency medical technicians, Jersey City spokesman Stan Eason said.

The boy appeared to be conscious, alert and crying, police said.

At the Medical Center, doctors were able to stabilize his condition, Medical Center spokesman Mark Rabson said.

The boy was then transported to a facility specializing in youth head trauma, Rabson said, adding that the child's family has requested privacy and no other information was available.