Veteran recovering from surgery after the glass shower door explodes

Chesterfield, Virginia (WWBT/Gray News) – The recovery continues for a seriously injured military veteran after a glass shower door exploded in a house he was renting.

Kevin Caple says he had just finished a hot shower in the house he was renting in Chesterfield, Virginia, when the glass shower door exploded, WWBT reports.

“I was opening the shower door, and perhaps approximately one inch or two moved, just enough to start moving. Just when he moved, only Bam! He exploded and everything came over me, ”said Caple.

The foot and hand of the military veteran were cut, and knew he needed to ask for help.

“I was in shock. Then, I immediately jumped throughout the broken glass, I grabbed the towel, put a quick turniquet on my foot to stop (bleeding). I didn’t want to see the wound, ”he said.

Caple called 911 and EMS arrived in less than 15 minutes. He was treated at home.

“They looked at the wounds and stopped the bleeding. They said that I will definitely need stitches on my left foot, and that I will need stitches in my right hand, ”said Caple.

The veteran military finally took the Hospital de Va, where he got stitches. Later he needed surgery in his foot.

“They had to take a tendon of another finger to fix the tendon to the big foot … hopefully, the surgery was successful,” he said.

Caple moved from the rental house several months after the accident and says that their owners returned their security deposit. While continuing to recover from the injury in his foot, he admits that he is grateful that the situation is not worse.

“I still have my life. I left with my life. I got a messy foot, but it could have been worse. I could have passed out there, and nobody would have known that I was here, ”he said.

After the incident, Caple still has questions about how and why the glass door shattered.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, from 2012 to 2016, it is estimated that 2,300 visits to the emergency department in the United States associated with glass shower doors themselves. In 2018, a Temperate glass safety alert He was issued, describing Mandatory safety standards For glass in showers, bathtub enclosures, doors, storm doors and sliding glass doors.

“What I have learned is that I could have obtained the defect of a manufacturer while it was being done, or could have been splintered or damaged while installed, or could be related to the temperature. So, of the three, I don’t know if I can try if it was the defect of a manufacturer, ”said Caple. “If I had a small chip while being installed, over time … if any of the water got into the glass where it was damaged, that could have exploded the glass door.”

In situations such as Caple’s, there is the possibility of presenting a case of product responsibility. Howard Bullock, a lawyer from Emroch and Kilduff, admits that products of products can be a prolonged process.

“It must demonstrate that they did not meet the manufacturing standards used by other showers of showers and that this defect is what caused the insecure condition. It must also demonstrate that this insecure condition existed at the time the product left the manufacturer or the hand of the seller, “Bullock said.

In these cases, Bullock says it is important to demonstrate that a product was unreasonably dangerous, such as the temperate process was carried out incorrectly, or if there was a defect in the installation, the hardware was installed incorrectly.

“It is important that you take measures to preserve as much as possible of the product, that is, the glass. Save the hardware and keep it, ”said Bullock. “If you want to bring a box, that glass can be tested, experts in their private fields can test hardware to determine what the cause of the explosion was.”

Bullock says the manufacturer or installer could be responsible in a product box.

“The severity of the lesion is an important part of (the case). Another component is what type of future medical conditions the person has as a result of the injury, ”he said.