SAN DIEGO -- The weekend death of a 3-year-old San Diego County girl prompted officials from Rady Children's Hospital Thursday to warn parents about dangers from falling television sets and furniture.

Michelle Eva Saxen was playing alone in a room at her home in Spring Valley when a dresser and television fell over on her last Saturday, according to an investigator with the medical examiner's office. She died the following day at Rady Children's Hospital.

In the past 15 months, 15 children have been seen in Rady Children's Hospital's trauma unit after being injured by falling TVs or furniture, said Sue Cox, the hospital's trauma services director.

"Circumstances vary, but most of the cases involved the child attempting to climb to get to a television and either pulling the television off of the furniture or more often pulling both the furniture and television onto themselves," Cox said.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, as many as 10,000 children are treated in emergency rooms each year because of "tip-over" injuries, resulting in about a half-dozen deaths.

To prevent accidents, parents are encouraged to:

Use an anchor or angle brace to secure furniture to the wall

Place televisions on a low piece of furniture, as far back as possible

Make sure the TV stand is sturdy

Anchor TVs to the wall with an appliance strap

Clear TV stands of any items that children might try to climb to reach, including toys, movies and books

Avoid placing a VCR or DVD player on top of the television where a child might try to climb to get at it