The big issue here -- and its an issue in a number of other legal liability areas as well -- is that our legal system has no provision whatsoever for waiver of liability concerning injury to children. You can make the parents sign a waiver so that THEY can't sue if a baby is harmed during delivery, or a child is seriously injured participating in an organized sport. But these waivers do not prevent the child, or some other entity purporting to act on behalf of the child, from suing and winning multimillion dollar judgements.
IMO we need a federal law giving full legal weight to liability waivers signed by parents on behalf of their children. More children are being harmed by the lack of such waivers, than would be harm by parents who sign them thoughtlessly. Not only are many babies being born in cars on the way to distant hospitals, with no medical help at all in the event of a problem, because all the nearby obstetricians have been put out of business. But children across the country are being prevented from being physically active by liability-conscious schools and play facilities that have eliminated a huge range of activities and equipment on the grounds that someone might get hurt and sue. Workplace based daycare centers, where parents could actually keep an eye on how their children are being cared for, and informal home daycare opportunities, where children can be cared for by a trusted friend or neighbor, are very rare, because of the massive liability issues that can't be contracted out of.
Liability waivers have not, to my knowledge, ever protected anyone in the medical community/profession from being sued....adult OR child.
People want to make "their" choice, and then hold others accountable when things go wrong...and it doesn't help that they are egged on in this endeavor by a bevy of lawyers.