Fisher-Price Recalls Rock ‘n Play Sleeper After 32 Infant Deaths
Fisher-Price recalled over 4.7 million Rock ‘n Play sleepers after it was linked to 32 infant deaths over the past 10 years. The company is advising that consumers stop using any model of the Rock ‘n Play sleeper immediately.
Fisher-Price’s Rock ‘n Play sleepers may be linked to the deaths of 100 infants —among them, 30 had died after it was first recalled more than three years ago.
Samantha Drover-Mundy and Zachary Mundy of Delaware are the lead plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. The lawsuit describes the September 2018 death of their 3-month-old daughter, identified as L.M., who died just a few minutes after being placed in the sleeper.
The Drover-Mundy lawsuit alleges that Fisher-Price and Mattel knew or should have known their product was unsafe for babies and says the company disregarded recommendations from a leading association of pediatricians regarding the proper sleep position for babies. The organization says babies should only sleep on a flat, firm surface, free from bedding, bumpers, and other items that could suffocate them.
Another class action filed by lead plaintiff Cassandra Mulvey in Nassau County, New York, claims that Fisher-Price engaged in “dangerously false and misleading” marketing by portraying the Rock n’ Play Sleeper as safe for all-night or prolonged sleep.
The Mulvey lawsuit also claims that the device increases the risk a baby will develop a flat head condition known as plagiocephaly or a twisted neck syndrome known as torticollis. It alleges that some infants have had to wear special helmets or receive physical therapy to correct the conditions.
