Lead poisoning?

Question

I live with my fiance in a 3 fam. house that his parents own(they live on the first fl) and last year my son got lead poisoning from the house. His level was 49 and he was 2years old. I never knew anything about lead poisoning and his parents never warned me about it. I didnt sue them and we stayed in a hotel for 3 months while they fixed our appartment. It just seems to me that she is more worried about getting sued than she is for my son. his parents fixed most of their appartment too but they just recently built a porch that is level with a window and the outside of the window still has lead paint and I keep telling them to cover it and they said why its our house & our enterance and I told her because my son wants to go on that porch with the other kids and its dangerous to all the kids here ..she just rolled her eyes. My son is always going to have prob from this.. Would you sue her if you were me? do you think their homeowners insurance covers this?

(Lead exposure is most serious for young children because they absorb lead more easily than adults and are more susceptible to its harmful effects. Even low level exposure may harm the intellectual development, behaviour, size and hearing.) my son had a level of 49 and now he has behavioral problems I took him for evaluation for learning and behavior. Any amount of lead can do damage and 49 is a very high level for a 2 yr old. I would prefer that I get answers from people that have experienced this.

Answer 1

Sorry to hear about your son's lead poisoning and the about the sucky response from your (?) future in-laws.

The good news is that when he gets older, his expsosure should go down, all else being equal. Under 1 year old, they are babes in arms, mostly. Over 2 are mostly walking. Between 1 and 2 are worst because they are crawling on the floor, in the dust, and everything is hand-to-mouth.

Things you can do are: keeping the area as dusted as you can; train him not to put toys in his mouth; and give him plenty of milk (any calcium deficiency can increase lead uptake). Or course, moving to new housing would be ideal (maybe for more reasons that the LBP?).

Despite popular images of kids eating paint chips, most childhood lead exposure is from LBP dust from impact surfaces like window and door frames. Window troughs can have screamingly high levels because they gather dust from double-hung windows and the "best", most high lead content paint was used on window trim.

Much of the lead-based paint (LBP) testing that was done was done in federal housing due a lawsuit. The federal gvoernment's previous practice was to respond to lead poisoning cases and only then test and remediate the situation. The judgement was that the government can't use poor children as an "indicator species" - as the test subjects - to determine if there is lead in the housing unit. The government has to test for LBP directly. I ahve no idea if private landlords are held to the same standard. Your health department, a realtor specializing in rentals, or a lawyer specializing in these cases would know.

Have your son's blood lead levels tested again. There are other sources of lead exposure, including lead pipe, lead solder in copper pipe, lead in the brass alloy plumbing fixtures and some domestic well (and a few muncipal supplies) have lead in the water before it comes to your house.

Other sources can be occupational (mom or dad works in a gun shop, tire facility, battery factory, etc and brings home lead on their clothes or equipment; recreational (where you go and what you do as a family) shooting guns being a big one; and your own possessions (old toys made of solid lead and a few new toys from China, etc have lead levels above safety standards, religous medals and costume jewelry can be bad). Also a few home remedies or "medicines" from the old country can be very high exposure. Some are actually lead salts.

Consider having a LBP risk assessor (who is trained to look beyond LBP) examine your son's exposure. There are some groups that test for free or at a reduced rate for low-income families.

Answer 2

Sue your future in-laws? How long after the filing of the court papers do you think your fiance would hang around?

The lead doesn't leech out of the paint, the child would have been eating paint chips which is how it was ingested. (The lead makes the paint taste like cherry which is why the kids eat the lead based paint chips and not non-leaded paint.) That is assuming that the only exposure was through the paint and that there are no other exposures such as lead in the water from lead pipes. The phrase "lead poisoning" infers neurological damage occurred and 49 is not a significant number to have caused any damage. While anything over 10 is an elevated number, it's not until 70 or 80 that the exposure is considered severe.

The easiest thing is to have your fiance offer to strip the old paint off the back window and repaint it. Or if the paint is not peeling, just paint over with two coats of high quality paint. With your future mother-in-laws attitude, and your inclination towards suing them I take it the relationship is strained already. Let your fiance intercede, get some info from the internet on lead poisoning or get some fliers from your pediatrician or local hospital about the danger of lead based paint near children. He can explain it is for all the children, not just yours.

I've enclosed the link to the CDC's lead information pages. Good luck.

Answer 3

Sorry to hear about your son. Hopefully he is doing better. I think your future inlaws just suck. They don't seems too concerned with your child's well being. They sound more worried about money and how much things cost. Lead poisoning from paint usually comes from kids eating the paint chips. It's difficult to get exposed to lead by just breathing. Kids eat lead paint because lead tastes sweet. So if he is out on the porch with the other kids, keep an eye on them. Homeowners insurance will usually not cover this, but you can check with the insurance commisioner in your state. Oh, and think about whether this is the type of family you want to marry into.

Answer 4

I would find out who painted the house using lead paint. Was it recently purchased. It is illegal to use lead paint and the obligation of the landlord to get rid of it. There are federal laws that can make them do it. I'm sure you have medical bills and if the landlord knowingly used lead paint there is liability on their part. If a contractor did the work and used lead paint then they are liable. You need to go the appropriate authority and force the removal of all lead paint before you move back in. Making your fiance and future in-laws mad at you is secondary.

Answer 5

stupid question... How does someone with disability of $750 a month have sufficient money a pc and information superhighway get entry to? You variety surprisingly sturdy for someone who's disabled. by the way the $ is going in the front of the quantity. except your father has a ton of funds, and that i'm speaking thousands and thousands no longer $100,000 in stocks, i'd not waste the attempt attempting to sue him. you'll lose a million/3 of it in legal expenditures, lose your disability, no longer have sufficient to live to inform the tale on over the years, and doubtless be forced to artwork someplace (god forbid). it's time that you would possibly want to quit blaming each human being else on your issues and initiate taking administration of your own existence. possibly your father has had lead poisoning those sorts of years too and his questioning is somewhat off.

Answer 6

Probably not. I would send over the health inspector for your Town or city. They will make them remove the lead or fine them.