The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act

September 19, 2007
I received an email from Nancy Baker this past weekend, asking for help in supporting some very important legislation. This has prompted me to go public with the story of my family’s tragedy.

On Feb 10, 1974 my 8 year old daughter, Carol Denise, (an excellent swimmer since age 4) was entrapped in the drain of the spa which was attached to our swimming pool. She was blowing bubbles through the small hole that went from the spa to the main pool. When I saw that Carol was under the water too long, I jumped into the spa and tried to pull her out of the water. I was screaming and my children were screaming. I pulled and pulled and finally after a long time she was free. My hands and knuckles were bloody and sore. I could not comprehend what had happened. (She had been caught on her belly by the suction in the spa drain). Carol's stomach was terribly distended and beginning to become one huge dark bruise. She was limp. I put her on her stomach and pushed the water out of her. I started CPR and continued until the paramedics arrived. They pronounced her dead and did not try to revive her. I was numb. My devastated husband arrived home within the hour. Our lives were changed forever. Carol's untimely death broke our hearts. After thirty-three years, I still cannot think of that terrible day without tears.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission investigators who came to our home, that spring, Carol was the first child that they ever had heard of who had died, entrapped by the suction in a spa drain. The flat drain cover on our spa, which was held by plaster, had come loose. A golf ball was stuck in the drain. I had called the pool company come to our home to remove the golf ball. The worker laid the flat grate back over the drain, unsecured. He told me to tell the children not to throw things in the drain. I had no idea that that drain would take the life of my daughter two days later. The engineer that tested the drain after Carol’s death found hundreds of pounds of pressure in that spa drain. She never had a chance. Her death was mentioned in the trial of Lakey vs. Sta-Rite Industries.

Because we never wanted another family to go through this terrible pain, my husband and I were instrumental in having a law passed (in the mid 1970s) in Los Angeles and later in California, mandating that pool drains be dome shaped and bolted to the floor of a pool or spa. Obviously, those requirements were not passed on to other states.The seven year old granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker, Virginia Graeme Baker, was entrapped in the drain of a spa in 2002. She drowned. Her mother, Nancy Baker has been instrumental in trying to get national legislation passed to protect children from horrible accidents like these. Nancy testified before a congressional committee in 2006. She has also joined with SafeKids as a parent advocate to promote pool and spa safety. You can read her very sad and disturbing statement on safekids.org.

The legislation is titled The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act and is also know as S. 1771 and H. R.1721. The sponsors of the legislation are: Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Frank Wolf and Baron Hill.
The Senators sponsoring this bill are: Mark Pryor, Ted Stevens, Christopher Dodd, Richard Durbin, Amy Klobuchar, Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Warner, John McCain and John Kerry.

This year a six year old girl, was eviscerated in a wading pool, at a golf club in Edina, Minnesota. She will never be able eat food again. Another six year old, was caught in a drain in Greenwich, Connecticut, the last weekend in July, 2007. He drowned. Presidential candidate, John Edwards represented the parents of a child, who was eviscerated by drain suction in 1993. This is only a partial list of the many children who have died or been terribly maimed by defective drains in pools and especially in spas.

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act must be passed by Congress. Thirty-three years is much too long for these hidden dangers to continue to kill and injure our children. We want the public to know about the danger in these spas and pools and we want to prevent this from happening to any more families.

Please help us get this message out to your co-workers, friends and family, and ask them to contact their senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. Many votes are needed to pass these bills, so that the horrible accidents will stop. The regulations are sorely needed. The swimming pool/spa industry has not done their duty and handled this themselves.

You can go online to safekids.org for more information.Thank you for your consideration and for your time.
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