Mom Warns Others After Seatbelt Slices Daughter’s Stomach
A Virginia mother is warning other parents after her 6-year-old daughter’s stomach was sliced by a seatbelt in a car accident.
According to CBS News, 6-year-old Samantha Swartwout was in the back seat of her father’s car, when they veered off the road and crashed into a tree. The impact was so intense that Samantha’s seatbelt sliced into her abdomen, opening up her stomach.
A deputy who responded to the scene called Samantha’s mother, Shelly Martin.
“He called, told me that she was already here in surgery, it’s a phone call you do not want,” Martin WWBT. “It’s awful, I mean it’s torture. You know what I mean? Your mind kind of thinks of all sorts of things. They told me she had facial…um a head injury and stomach lacerations and that she was still in surgery and that’s all they would tell me for a couple of hours.”
The mother said that Samantha’s “intestines were out on scene on the left side.”
Dr. Charles Bagwell, the surgeon leading the team that performed multiple surgeries on Samantha, detailed the girl’s injuries.
“Where you could see the stripe of the seat belt in an enormous bruise across her abdomen, as well as the fact that the edge, the far edge of the belt, had actually cut through her abdominal wall and she had protruding intestines from that. She was just about cut in two,” the doctor said. “Much of which, quite frankly, couldn’t be repaired. The injury was too severe.”
Now, Shelly is sharing the story in order to warn parents about not putting children in booster seats.
According to CBS News, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles says that a child should remain in a booster seat at least until the age of 8, or until they reach 4 feet 9 inches tall. The guidelines vary from state to state, but Martin says that parents should follow their state’s recommendations.
“She would not have been this hurt in a booster,” the mother said. “Don’t think that just because your child is 7 or 8 years that they are too big… they aren’t!”
Samantha was released from the hospital after about three weeks. In addition to her physical injuries and scars, the accident may have left Samantha psychologically damaged as well.
“She is seeing a psychology doctor for possible PTSD,” Martin said. “She was in the ICU for two weeks and the pediatric floor for another week.”
Martin hopes that by sharing Samantha’s story, she may be able to help other parents avoid a similar situation.
“If we can raise awareness and save another child then at least we can bring something good out of this,” she said.