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Surgeons remove up to 100 magnets - which have been banned in the country but bought online on Temu - from New Zealand teen’s gut (www.straitstimes.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45088835

A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand swallowed up to 100 high-power magnets he bought on Temu, forcing surgeons to remove tissue from his intestines, doctors said on Oct 24.

After suffering four days of abdominal pain, the unnamed teen was taken to Tauranga Hospital on the North Island.

“He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior,” said a report by hospital doctors in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

The magnets, which have been banned in New Zealand since January 2013, were bought on online shopping platform Temu, they said.

An X-ray showed the magnets had clumped together in four straight lines inside the child’s intestines.

“These appeared to be in separate parts of bowel adhered together due to magnetic forces,” they said.

[...]

Surgeons operated to remove the dead tissue and retrieve the magnets, and the child was able to return home after an eight-day spell in hospital.

“This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our paediatric population,” said the authors of the paper, Dr Binura Lekamalage, Dr Lucinda Duncan-Were and Dr Nicola Davis.

Surgery for ingestion of magnets can lead to complications later in life such as bowel obstruction, abdominal hernia and chronic pain, they said.

[...]

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[–] 70 points 1 year ago (14 children)

The real question that remains unanswered: why the fuck did that boy try to earn a Darwin Award? One or two would be an accident, 100 is done on purpose

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  • [+] 38 points 1 year ago (10 children)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    I would like to remind you of Tide pods, planking, and ghost riding the wip.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Planking was just lying down on things, so hardly an instance of teenagers endangering themselves.

    The tide pod thing wasn't exactly what it seemed to be. Some children with learning disabilities and some people with dementia had died from mistaking laundry pods for food. At some point, some media outlets decided to sensationalise it by leaving out the bit about learning disabilities. That meant that there were teenagers who thought other teenagers had died from eating them, so they could make videos pretending they'd done that, just like teenagers have staged videos to make it look like they're doing dangerous things that they aren't really doing ever since people have let them have cameras. Some of them decided that the easiest way to pretend was to put a real laundry pod in their mouth, pretend to chew it and swallow, pretend to die, and then cut the video and spit it out. If they checked the relevant warnings on the packet, they just said not to eat them and to rinse their eyes if they got any there, so this plan might seem safe. However, laundry pods are so corrosive against mucous membranes that putting one in your mouth and spitting it out immediately because it starts to burn immediately can still be fatal or cause permanent injury. The media reported the deaths and injuries as if teenagers were intentionally eating laundry pods, rather than pretending in a way the packet implied might be safe, so most people weren't learning that pretending was also deadly and that the warnings on the packet weren't exhaustive, so it just made fake tide pod challenge videos even more tempting. If the reporting had been more responsible, then most people would have first heard even pretending to eat laundry pods can kill rather than teenagers are eating laundry pods.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Not fair to through planking in there.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I think they are referring to people who did it in incredibly stupid places. There were planking fatalities, falls from cliffs and balconies. Darwin award winners.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I must've been checked out by then, cause I only saw people doing it in real life. And it was usually pretty safe spots around the university I was at att.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Yeah, I think the vast majority weren't in that dumb of places, though I bet there were a ton of smaller injuries that didn't make the news, because the whole point of the trend was to do it in shocking or obnoxious places (at least for the ones trying to go viral). But I'd guess the majority of people who did it weren't trying to go viral but just trying to fit in and applied some common sense to it.

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    • [–] 103 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    I am so confused. Why did he eat them? Magnets are banned in New Zealand since 2013? Are they marketed as special eating magnets?

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  • [–] 60 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Small high-powered magnets, specifically

    Small strong magnets are harmless to play with – but if they are ingested or inhaled, they can become attracted to each other and join up in the digestive system. If left untreated, this can result in major tissue damage, sepsis and even death.

    So basically banned for this exact reason.

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  • [+] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)
    [deleted]
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    [–] 43 points 1 year ago (24 children)

    That's unusual for a teenager to do, I'm curious why he did that. My first guess would be a developmental delay vs a dare?

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    Teens are dumb.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    adults these days are also fucking stupid and incompetent

    god I fucking love generalisations

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Teens eat Tide pods on what's essentially a dare.

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  • [–] 32 points 1 year ago (9 children)
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  • [–] 46 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Because our children being fucking dumb enough that 86 of them ate LAUNDRY DETERGENT is an issue.

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  • [–] 34 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    It’s true that since the Tide Pod Challenge began, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPC) has received 86 reports of teenagers intentionally ingesting laundry detergent. Yet at the end of last year, the AAPC reported that over 10,500 children under the age of five were exposed to laundry pods in 2017 (for example ingesting, inhaling, or absorbing the detergent). If we are going to have a mass panic about poisonings, ten thousand children are clearly in greater danger than less than a hundred teens. So why was it that only the Tide Pod Challenge that made pearl-clutching headlines across the globe?

    I think the bigger problem is that adults focus on issues that are marketed to us than the issues that actually exist

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Their grandparents used to chew on lead paint chips so lets not pretend this is new

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Lead is sweet which makes this an unfair comparison

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    So is antifreeze and I don't remember the drink antifreeze challenge so idk about that. Not to mention the reason people chose tide pods was because of the sensory feeling they gave dissolving in your mouth, so it's a lot more similar than you make it out to be. Just a case of taste vs texture.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Most of those occured after mainstream reporting. Usually it goes like this, some weird trend happens online, some real, some ironic, some making fun of said trend as if they were real, mainstream media picks up the story and signal boosts to the rest of the country, teens see the trend on clips of the news story and copies it, boom sudden epidemic of said trend. These trends, or memes suddenly propogate with great effect, not unlike a biological spread really.

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    • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Why are kids eating magnets now?

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    • [–] 185 points 1 year ago (23 children)

    This is fucking stupid. A 13 year old is old enough to read the "don't fucking eat this you dumbass" labels on the packaging. Do you know how useful neodymium magnets are? You're gonna just ban them cuz this kid's dumb enough to swallow a hundred fucking rare earth magnets and didn't go to the doctor for half a week? Stupid

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Yeah stop banning everything that can hurt you because ONE person does something stupid. Like we say in my language, one time is zero times. Everything can hurt you. If many people start doing it, maybe it's time to consider a ban.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They're banned since 2014 because apparently multiple people had the idea to eat them for whatever reason

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    For example, a big contention of 16 year olds being able to drink was one teenager going to a bar and drinking 43 shots of tequila and killing himself.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    That should be a case of the bartender being guilty of manslaughter or something. "Accessory to the death of another" or summit? I dunno. Nobody should be served 43 shots, let alone children.

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  • [–] 54 points 1 year ago* (14 children)

    Next they're going to ban CR2032 button cells

    (I was gonna put a /s at the end but I can vividly imagine that happening now :/ )

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  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Not sure if you're aware, but Duracell and probably others coat button batteries in a chemical that tastes bad in order to discourage ingestion.

    I see where these regulations are coming from, but we can't just ban away anything that could be harmful. I just recently bought a bunch of magnets like these for a using in 3D printed models. I don't have any kids, but I do have pets and so they're stored away in their own case and not left around. People just need to be responsible. I mean, we don't ban bleach but you sure as hell shouldn't drink it!

    I was at a company picknic this summer and was watching people trying to play a pitiful version of Lawn Darts. The darts were weighted but would just bounce off the ground and ruin a good shot. Lawn darts, or darts of any kind, simply don't work as a game when you take the pointy end away. I will say though, that a company outing where there's people milling about is not a good place to play lawn darts, so I wouldn't have used the real ones here even if you could.

    Proper product packaging, like we use in medicine canisters, and perhaps an extra disclaimer/waiver on purchase is the way to go on these things IMO.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    I agree that most of these safety bans are stupid. Lawn darts though? I don't see a reason for the old version. Sure, without a dart it may bounce, but that becomes part of the game. It's like some saying horseshoes is ruined because they bounce sometimes. Or curling is ruined because the stone slides too far. It's just more skill that's needed to account for the fact it could bounce.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Lawn darts was a dangerous game to begin with, so I'm not too shaken up about losing it, but I disagree that the bouncing is part of the game. No ground is perfectly even, and you can't see imperfections from where you throw. It just creates randomness and makes it not worth playing. These aren't issues in the other examples you cited. My opinion, obviously.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    You could say the same about puting in golf. Reading the ground is a huge part of it. It's something good players do and bad players don't.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Also if you’re having trouble with a low power devices with button cells. Wiping them down with isopropyl alcohol to clean off the bitter coating can help. Both my car keyfob and an AirTag both started working again after cleaning the brand new batteries.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    In Australia CR2032s have a double wall thick plastic blister packaging that is basically impossible to open.

    You need scissors AND some time.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    This is an example of a sensible control. Double walled, difficult to open packages may be a small inconvenience for adults, but it makes it near impossible for a toddler to open. Button cell batteries are seriously dangerous if swallowed.

    Banning neodymium magnets is fucking stupid, and unfortunately the world seems to be heading in the direction of banning everything in the name of "safety".

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Same in the US, apparently. I bought some to replace my car key remote battery. Guess what I don't have in my car? Any kind of scissors.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Not to harp on you but one of those old school keychain Swiss Army knives should be on your key ring

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Knife

    In public

    Not looking for a stiff fine or gaol time. Yes, a Swiss Army Knife on your keyring is considered a dangerous weapon here too.

    (Legally, there is an exception for Utility knives, if you 'have a good reason' but it's never given, people have been fined for having box cutters)

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Usually I carry a little Leatherman folding knife, but I didn't grab it that morning because I was just stepping out to replace a battery. I didn't expect it to be a whole ordeal.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago*

    I had to double take at neodymium — wtf!!!! Neodymium is completely standard for audio drivers, where the choice of the magnet is actually very important! My good old Philips 2XHR literally proudly advertise on the shell that they have a 50mm neodymium dynamic driver inside them... banning them is ridiculous

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Magnets from Temu were probably just loose in a bag or some bubble wrap with no warning label. People should know they're not food anyway, but defying a warning label wasn't the particular flavour of dumbness exhibited here.

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    • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    I am almost afraid to ask... but why eat magnets?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    How else is he going to get out all the metal shards he ate?! It's like if a bird gets stuck in the wall and you use a cat to get the bird out!

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    What are you smoking and can I have some, please?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Of course, you just gotta wrestle the bag from the racoon!

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Well I did! But I didnt wrestle the raccoon, I helped him get some more from a greedy cigar smoking capitalist aardvark, then we danced to this all night.

    Of course when I woke up there was just a bunch of dead raccoons around me and I was wearing a shirt that said 'nyuk nyuk nyuk' with the three stooges... something tells me I might have already been high the whole time!

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It could be a desperate suicide attempt. The magnets get trapped in the bowels by sticking together at various points, necrotizing or rupturing the intestines or other tissues, which can cause peritonitis or ultimately sepsis, which can be fatal.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    That is such a slow and painful and unsure way to commit suicide though...

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Agreed. A few of my physician/nursing friends mentioned that they see these kinds of injuries on rare occasions and have always been attributed to patients in serious mental/emotional distress, so this level of desperation is unfortunately still out there.

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    • [–] 51 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Even I know not to eat magnets ffs.

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  • [–] 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    And you're a dumbass

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