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The Threat At Home: How Your TV Could Send Your Child To The Emergency Room

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A staple in nearly every American home, something that you use on a daily basis, could pose a serious threat to your children.

Falling televisions have sent nearly 200,000 children to the emergency room over the past 20 years and doctors said that the problem is increasing at an alarming rate.

"I ran back to the bedroom as quick as I could and the TV was laying on top of him," Tyler Rodgers told CBS 2's Marlie Hall, "From there I started screaming 'call 911!'"

Rodgers lost his son Brayden when a TV and a dresser fell on the 3-year-old, resulting in a fatal head injury, and incidents like that one are becoming more common, according to a new study.

"Each year in this country, more than 17,000 children are rushed to hospital emergency departments for TV-related injuries," Child Injury Prevention Alliance president Gary Smith said.

Roughly one child every 30 minutes is injured in an accident that could be easily avoided given the proper safety precautions, the study revealed.

Researchers want safety anchors handed out with TVs to prevent tipping, and have called on manufacturers to redesign TVs to make them more stable.

Experts recommend that all TVs be anchored to the wall, but older sets are often placed on unstable furniture like dressers or armoirs.

"The furniture that the TV sits on, that piece can tip, sometimes the drawers will open up and children will use those to climb on," All Star Baby Safety spokesman Tom Treanor said.

Rodgers told CBS 2 that he was always concerned about the TV and hopes that his story will spare other families from tragedy. Studies revealed that most accidents involved children under the age of 5.

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