About one Quebec child per day taken to ER for drowning, near-drowning: research

New research has found an average of one child a day goes to the emergency for a drowning or near-drowning in Quebec during the summer months. An emergency sign is seen outside a hospital in Montreal, Monday, July 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

MONTREAL — New research has found an average of one child a day goes to the emergency room for a drowning or near-drowning in Quebec during the summer months.

The study will be officially published later this year but Dr. Hussein Wissanji, a pediatric surgeon at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, says he’s publicizing the results now in the hopes of preventing deaths this summer.

He says the study, which he led along with Quebec’s public health institute and coroner’s office, looked at all children’s drowning deaths, ER visits or hospital admissions between 2017 and 2021.

The research found children between the age of one and four are most at risk, and drownings or near-drownings are more likely to occur on weekends or in pools without proper fencing.

While Quebec law requires pool owners to install appropriate fencing, owners of older pools have until 2025 to comply.

Wissanji says that for every fatal drowning, there are more than 10 children taken to the ER or hospitalized due to water accidents that can happen over just a few seconds.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press