The parents of a Pittsburgh-area boy knew exactly what was wrong, but had no idea how serious the consequences could be. Somehow the 5-year-old dislodged a small, lithium disc battery from a fidget spinner and promptly swallowed it. The parents rushed him into the car with the intent of taking him to the emergency room, but as he became more agitated they opted for the closest urgent center. Ultimately, he needed immediate surgery to remove the battery because it was already burning his esophagus. His recovery is ongoing. As noted in Approach to Ingested Foreign Bodies in Children, the cover article in the December issue of JUCM, there are roughly 100,000 cases of foreign body ingestion annually in the United States, with >80% of those cases involving children. Read more here.
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First Stop for Parents of Boy Who Swallowed a Battery: Urgent Care