11 April 2024 , 14:00
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A young girl left in complete agony was eventually rushed to hospital days after she swallowed seven magnets.
The unnamed child was said to have swallowed the items while playing with her cousin in Brazil. Over the next four days she suffered severe abdominal pain, constipation, and a reduced appetite. Because she did not vomit or display signs of fever her parents were baffled and rushed her to hospital. An X-ray revealed a "linear metallic foreign body" inside the child's small bowel.
But during an operation to remove them, surgeons found the magnets were attached to each other and had perforated her intestinal wall and obstructed her small bowel. However, she was considered lucky, as swallowing magnets can lead to intestinal mechanical obstruction and intestinal perforation. Patients can even develop peritonitis, which can end in death if not treated quickly. The incident was reported in a journal this month.
The magnets were all stuck together (Jam Press/ScienceDirect)Earlier this year, an eight-year-old boy was killed by swallowing ten magnets may have seen the idea from a deadly social media craze, a coroner ruled. Rhys Millum died after his small intestine was perforated by ten silver round magnets each measuring 3mm. Mum Andrea Boyd, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said Rhys had been fine until the morning of Friday, September 30 2022.
Her son came into her room complaining of stomach pain. She added: “He was doubled over screaming. I gave him Calpol thinking it was wind. It did not seem to settle him much.” The hearing was told how Rhys’s big brother, aged 10, was also off sick at the time with a cold. Mrs Boyd decided to take both boys to Harrogate District Hospital A & E department where Rhys was triaged by a nurse in a cubicle and given more painkillers and anti-fever medication.
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The seven bunched up magnets removed from the girl's small bowel (Jam Press/ScienceDirect)During the post-mortem days later in Newcastle the pathologist spotted a 30mm by 3m metal object - which they first thought was a metal screw Rhys had swallowed. On closer examination they found it was a row of ten 3m wide silver spherical magnets that had all stuck together in a row and pierced his small intestine and lodged in his bowel, causing death.
Northallerton Coroner’s Court was told the magnets were among a number of toys that had been given to Rhys and his brother by a family friend during a house clear-out. The toys are marketed as a creative plaything that allows children to arrange the multiple magnets into sculptures, the hearing was told. Devastated mum Mrs Boyd said in evidence: "We did try to brainstorm why he would put them into his mouth. Someone mentioned this TikTok thing and thought it might be that."