Woman Scarred by Scalding Shower Awarded $750,000 in Settlement

Fox ^

[Chet 99]

MOBILE, Ala. — A woman who suffered third-degree burns after stepping into a shower of 136-degree water has been awarded $750,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit against the apartment manager.

The Mobile County court award to 25-year-old Treon Moorer, in late June, followed mediation with JRS Management Inc. of Florida. The company's lawyer, Larry Matthews of Pensacola, declined comment.

. . .

He said Moorer was "horribly scarred" from the neck down. Taylor says the water heater industry and burn doctors recommend a setting of 120 degrees.

[2harddrive]

SORRY. You DON’T get 3rd degree burns from hot water. What has happenned to medical education in this country?

[calex59]

“On the other hand, 136 degrees Centigrade water is well past boiling point (100C) and is more than hot enough to scald.” ...Wouldn’t water heated to 135 C just be steam? How could water stay in a liquid state that far beyond it’s boiling point???

Not to mention it would activate the pop off valve of the heater.

[MortMan]

Ummmm...

If it were 136 degrees Celsius, the story would be about steam, not hot water.

[WVKayaker]

i’ll keep it at 180 thank you!

You might consider solar to save money. You can still keep it hot, but the sun can provide most, if not all, of the heat. I keep mine at 160, and have dropped my utility costs by $80 per month. I am expanding my system and adding radiant floor heating to my cabin in WV. The goal is to hold electric costs to cover tv, stereo, computers, and lights... and then possibly go PV (if I can afford it!). You can get that 160 degree solar water heating in Buffalo, Waukegan, or Napa... or anywhere else the sun shines.

Your mileage may vary. Your system size will depend on your location and access to sunlight. You can usually drop your utility bill by enough to make the payments on a system, if you don't have $4-8k in pocket. Check your local dealers for more info. Take the 30% (up to $2k) tax credit if you pay taxes...

[The Great RJ]

About as dumb as the woman who successfully sued McDonalds for millions for burns from hot coffee ...she was holding the hot cup between her legs and trying to open it while driving when the incident occurred.

[Eagle Eye]

And I have problems believing that anyone could get serious burns from 136F water.

Hot water causes injuries no ifs ands or buts.

http://www.accuratebuilding.com/services/legal/charts/hot_water_burn_scalding_graph.html

Maybe you should see firsthand what hot coffee from a typical Mr. Coffee can do to human skin.

Then re-think your idea of taking a 130+ degree shower.

[Eagle Eye]

3rd degree burns involve charring,

Not true.

I find it hard to believe 136 degree water would even blister,

Believe it. 136 can take the skin right off.

[Eagle Eye]

You DON’T get 3rd degree burns from hot water.

Sounds like you're saying that it isn't possible to get scalding burns beyond second degree. Hot water can remove flesh. Steam definitely can remove flesh.

[B Knotts]

136 is pretty hot. I checked mine, and it's 122.

That said, how in the heck does this result in an award? I mean, who turns on only the hot water when they get in the shower? Usually, you have a single knob, and you adjust the temperature until it feels right.

Are we now holding apartment managers responsible for setting the shower temperature before people get in the shower? It would seem so.

[Axenolith]

Well, every source I've noodled offhand (Burn Survivor resource center, Wiki, UVA and Penn State) indicate that a 3rd involves charring or complete destruction down to levels below the epidermis.

It's picking nits to go into the details of the level, the main point here is that it's difficult to believe that someone could suffer that level of damage at that temperature over a large area, at least conciously. Right off the bat it tells me that 750 large as a payout for it is BS.

I do note that kids seem to be exceptionally vulnerable to relatively low temperature water burns, maybe it's the full immersion VS heat management ability of little bodies, because it seems adults deal with stuff around this range fairly frequently.

A friend of my Mothers slopped a cup of just-shy-of-boiling coffee on my chest when I was about ten, it didn't blister, the skin just fell off. Thankfully, the follicles remained intact, I never needed a chest wig...

[Eagle Eye]

Charring isn’t requisite to a third degree burn. The degree rating depends on the depth of the burn.

Most people have never heard of 8th degree burns which I first heard of during EMT training several years ago.

That is actually a burn that goes through and begins to exit the other side.

[CholeraJoe]

That's interesting. Sabiston's Textbook of Surgery only outlines four:

Burn Classifications

Causes

		Flame—damage from superheated, oxidized air
		Scald—damage from contact with hot liquids
		Contact—damage from contact with hot or cold solid materials
		Chemicals—contact with noxious chemicals
		Electricity—conduction of electrical current through tissues

Depths

		First degree—injury localized to the epidermis
		Superficial second degree—injury to the epidermis and superficial dermis
		Deep second degree—injury through the epidermis and deep into the dermis
		Third degree—full-thickness injury through the epidermis and dermis into subcutaneous fat
		Fourth degree—injury through the skin and subcutaneous fat into underlying muscle or bone

[Eagle Eye]

Understood, Doc.

What the man taught was that a burn that began to exit though bone could/should be classified beyond 4th degree and that this would be most common for electrical burns.

He wasn’t a crackpot as he was inducted into EMS hall of fame in 1995.

However his ideas won’t supercede Sabiston’s now will they?

[CholeraJoe]

I can see where someone might have come up with that - 4 degrees on the way in, four on the way out. I’ve seen electrical burns do that. Usually, a through and through electrical burn is also enough to stop the heart.

[2harddrive]

YES. But 3rd degree burns imply CHARRING of flesh or bone. Like steaks too long on a BBQ grill.

[Eagle Eye]

Agreed and also possibly violent enough to cause other injuries as well.

I’ve only personally known two guys who suffered high voltage shocks (one lightning, one industrial) and their minds were never the same.

[Eagle Eye]

There won’t be charring with water, some chemicals, or some types of radiation.

[TRY ONE]

Obviously, a Hate Crime from some COLD-HEARTED Water Heater Company!

[TXnMA]

"Dollar bills are as close as [Florida] will ever come to the MKS standard. They missed Mars because of that."

LOL!!!! Now, that is funny!!

[dalereed]

Since my bill for gas for water heating and a clothes dryer was $6.26 last month I wouldn’t live long enough to pay for it.