Pool suction-drain injury

Pool suction drain injury, also known as suction entrapment, occurs when the drain of a wading pool, swimming pool, hot tub, or fountain sucks in a swimmer's jewelry, torso, limbs, hair or buttocks. Evisceration, also known as disembowelment, could happen in case of buttock entrapment.

A standard 8 inches (20 cm) main drain can develop up to 350 pounds (160 kg) of force, which could hold a person underwater in tight grip until the suction is released. This can drown the entrapped person, despite the rescue efforts of multiple adults.

One way to make drains safer is to install shut-off valves and dome-shape drains that are less likely to create a suction effect with the human body, as required in the United States by the 2007 Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.

Notable cases

United States

• Valerie Lakey. 1993, North Carolina. She received a $25 million settlement. It was a landmark case of lawyer (later Senator) John Edwards.
• Virginia Graeme Baker, June 2002. Granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker. She drowned, but her official cause of death was "suction entrapment due to a faulty drain cover". Congress passed a pool safety act under her name in 2007.
• Abigail Taylor, 2007. She died in 2008 as a result of her injuries despite subsequent surgeries. Scott and Katey Taylor, her parents, lobbied for the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which was passed the year of Abigail's injury.
• Evan Pappas. 2018, South Carolina. Known for surviving an entrapment of 7 minutes 40 seconds in a lazy river.

Egypt

• Salma Bashir. 2008, Alexandria. During a holiday with her family, she was disemboweled while in the kids' swimming pool. As of the time of the report, she was fed by a TPN bag and was waiting for a multiple organ transplant. After getting a small intestine transplant, her body rejected the organ and 6 months later it was removed, as was her large intestine and gall bladder. She is still surviving at age 17.