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Could smoking parents one day face personal injury claims from their kids?
Smokers beware! Even if you were already aware that you are the one minority group that it is acceptable for society to stigmatise, you may, one day, also face personal injury claims from your children.
This, of course, would very likely only apply to parents who consistently smoke in close proximity to their children, mostly in enclosed spaces such as cars or small, unventilated rooms. However improbable the idea of children making personal injury claims for this might seem, the growing scientific and social consensus is that for parents to expose their children to the dangerous toxins contained in tobacco smoke constitutes a form of negligence. And since negligence is often the chief determining factor in decisions of liability, go figure.
It is unlikely that any parents who, in the future, face smoking-related compensation claims from their children will be able to claim ignorance as a defence. Warnings, such as the one issued last year by chief medical officer Liam Donaldson have abounded for some time. He said, "We will strengthen and make regular the message to parents about the risks to their children of smoking. This is something we will need to constantly remind them about.
"The dangers of parents smoking in front of their children are increased risk of respiratory diseases, bronchitis, middle ear infections, asthma attacks in children that are prone to asthma and increased risk to babies if there is a pregnant person in the household.
"While the number of parents who smoke is falling, children's exposure to parental smoke remains a problem area.
It is unlikely too, that with all tobacco in the UK coming with prohibitive health warnings on the packaging, any affected children will be able to launch successful product liability litigation.
While cancers may be the most deadly and virulent smoking-related illnesses exposed children could develop, there is probably a greater likelihood that the majority of any such compensation claims would be for persistent respiratory illnesses such as asthma and emphysema.
In fact, according to Dr Steven Ryan medical director of Liverpool's Hey Alder Hospital as many as one in three cases of asthma, chest infection and ear infection may be attributable to the effects of passively smoking their parents cigarettes.
He feels that the children of smokers fall into several risk categories. He said that children at the "top level" of risk were those who are "trapped" in small and confined spaces where they are exposed to a "high intensity" of fumes.
Worryingly, according to Dr Ryan, many parents actually lie to medical staff about their smoking habits, often claiming that they never smoke in front of their children, even when this is patently not the case. Although he is clearly concerned about the issue, he is not devoid of sympathy for smoking parents, "People feel guilty. If it was easy, they would give up. Looking after children is good fun but it can be stressful and for some, cigarettes are a way of relieving that stress."
The idea of the children of smokers suing their parents is fast gaining credibility in the United States too, where voices as eminent as that of Dr Larry Bryan have called for the enaction of legislation enabling such smoking-related personal injury claims. He believes, "Children should be able to sue their parents for exposing them to harmful second-hand cigarette smoke".
While views like this might not form part of the discussion in the UK yet, my bet is that they eventually will, especially if government incentives to curb the numbers of parents who expose their children to tobacco do not prove enough.
