Deadly risk of children swallowing button batteries
- Sep 23, 2016
- EmmaArnold
Doctors are warning parents about the dangers of children swallowing button batteries found in the home.
The batteries can burn a hole through the lining and leave permanent damage to the child's throat and so should be kept out of reach of children.
Great Ormond Street Hospital has seen a big increase in the number of children who have the small, round batteries lodged in the oesophagus.
Hannah Bottomley, clinical negligence solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
The consequences to young children from swallowing button batteries can be serious and in some cases even fatal. I recently supported a family whose 18 month old had got hold of a button battery after playing with a torch and inadvertently swallowed it.
The family initially waited for nature to take its course but when the battery still hadn’t been passed 2 days later they took the child to A&E. Unfortunately those in A&E did not recognise the seriousness of the situation and whilst they removed the battery they failed to treat the effects of the burn to the child’s throat.
Sadly, just five days later, the child died of an internal haemorrhage caused as a result of the battery eroding through the oesophagus and into a major artery behind it. Supporting the family through the Inquest showed me how dangerous these batteries are and the number of everyday household items which can use them.
I hope that the advice from Great Ormond Street to treat these batteries in the same way as any other poisonous household item will limit the number of children hurt in these circumstances and that no other family will have to go through the horror our clients did.
If the battery is covered by the membrane which lines the oesophagus, it creates an electrical circuit causing an alkali to release which can erode the wall to the windpipe.
This erosion can occur rapidly (see a time lapse video here of the damage) and so the battery can burn the body within hours.
Engineers in the USA have produced button batteries with a special coating in the past but the technology is yet to be incorporated by manufacturers.