ThreeofUs
02-12-2008, 02:53 AM
Hey, All-
I just saw this on nytimes.com and had an "aha" moment about keeping magnets away from DS. Thought you might want to see it, too.
(Mods: please move if I've posted to incorrect forum.)
Yours-
I
NYTimes.com, February 12, 2008
Toy Magnet Swallowed? No Problem. Two? Call 911.
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Swallowing a magnet the size of a watch battery is unlikely to cause health problems, but swallowing two can be fatal.
Braden Eberle, 4, of San Jose, Calif., told his mother that he had swallowed something, a tiny magnet attached to a toy. His mother assumed that it would pass through. The next day, his parents saw him swallow another.
Within 72 hours, Braden complained of mild pain in the left abdomen. He had no other symptoms and was not in any apparent distress, but his parents took him to the emergency room anyway. An X-ray showed what Dr. Sanjeev Dutta, in a case study published on Feb. 4 in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, calls “an obvious opacity in the right lower quadrant area of the cecum,” a foreign object near the mouth of the large intestine.
An X-ray five hours later showed that the object was not moving properly. Dr. Dutta’s laparoscopy found the magnets stuck together, pinching bowel tissue.
They were removed when they stuck to the ends of the laparoscopic instrument. “I’m not trying to disrupt anyone’s day,” said Dr. Dutta, who is an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at Stanford. “But the message here is that these are dangerous toys. If you have little kids around, or even big kids, I would avoid them.”
I just saw this on nytimes.com and had an "aha" moment about keeping magnets away from DS. Thought you might want to see it, too.
(Mods: please move if I've posted to incorrect forum.)
Yours-
I
NYTimes.com, February 12, 2008
Toy Magnet Swallowed? No Problem. Two? Call 911.
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Swallowing a magnet the size of a watch battery is unlikely to cause health problems, but swallowing two can be fatal.
Braden Eberle, 4, of San Jose, Calif., told his mother that he had swallowed something, a tiny magnet attached to a toy. His mother assumed that it would pass through. The next day, his parents saw him swallow another.
Within 72 hours, Braden complained of mild pain in the left abdomen. He had no other symptoms and was not in any apparent distress, but his parents took him to the emergency room anyway. An X-ray showed what Dr. Sanjeev Dutta, in a case study published on Feb. 4 in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, calls “an obvious opacity in the right lower quadrant area of the cecum,” a foreign object near the mouth of the large intestine.
An X-ray five hours later showed that the object was not moving properly. Dr. Dutta’s laparoscopy found the magnets stuck together, pinching bowel tissue.
They were removed when they stuck to the ends of the laparoscopic instrument. “I’m not trying to disrupt anyone’s day,” said Dr. Dutta, who is an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at Stanford. “But the message here is that these are dangerous toys. If you have little kids around, or even big kids, I would avoid them.”