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Toddler dies after swallowing a disc battery.

By on November 25, 2019

Brianna Florer, a two- year old girl from Oklahoma died a few days after swallowing a button battery. She is one of the many children to die from a similar accident.

When she started throwing up blood and her skin turning blue, the toddler’s parents called an ambulance. But the doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding. Later, an x-ray showed that the battery had been ingested within the last six days before her death. Doctors believe the acid ate through to her carotid artery through her esophagus, the organ that connects the mouth to the stomach .

Children will be getting presents this season and some are going to include button batteries. Let this be a reminder to all parents to keep these objects out of children’s reach. These poisonous disc batteries are easy for toddlers who like to put things in their mouth, to swallow without choking or coughing. The tissues in the esophagus and gut are soft which means pain will not be immediately felt. The problem is the battery can burn inside the child’s stomach without the child noticing.

In 2013, four-year-old Summer Steer, the first Australian to die from lithium battery was still playing, eating and drinking days after she swallowed it. When the little girl started vomiting blood, she was wrongly diagnosed with a bloody nose and sent home. It was only during a hospital visit when she was fitted with an oxygen tube using an X-ray,  that an object was found inside her throat. Despite the discovery, the doctors decided the object would be removed once she was flown to Brisbane for surgery.  There it was discovered that the object was a lithium battery and she died shortly after.

Once the battery gets wet by saliva, it causes electrical current to become corrosive and burning starts, usually in as little as two hours.  The battery can get lodged in the throat or the digestive system, causing internal bleeding that can lead to death or life changing consequences.

Similar cases have reportedly happened in Japan to a 2-year-old and a one year old boy. Fortunately, both boys survived after a surgery but hospitalization took a month to fully recover.

Director Tatsuhiro Yamanaka of Midorien Children’s Clinic in Yokohama warns parents, “If your child accidentally swallows a button battery, it could lead to death, so call an ambulance immediately. ” 

Even if it is unclear whether or not your child had ingested one, Dr. Yamanaka advises parents to play safe by having an X-ray taken as soon as possible.

About Julie Wilson