Earbuds, fidget spinners and even a Christmas ornament: What US emergency room medics have been removing from patients’ orifices this year
- Rectum appeared to be most common place for objects to become embedded
- The information is from U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission database
- Some entries given alongside verbatim description of how they became lodged
Emergency room medics have had a busy year of removing unexpected items from people’s orifices.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) database documented the emergency room visits throughout 2019.
The rectum appeared to be the most common place for objects to become embedded closely followed by ears and the throat.
Emergency room medics have had a busy year of removing unexpected items from people’s orifices. Pictured: One man got a cigarette lighter lodged in his rectum
Items included wireless earbuds, fidget spinners, Christmas ornaments, an egg timer and even a stuffed bird.
Some of the entries were listed alongside a verbatim description of how the foreign objects got lodged inside the patient in the first place:
- ‘Patient states he slipped in the shower and landed on a metal air freshener can and it went into his rectum’
- ‘Swallowed a thumbtack that she thought was a mint’
- ‘Had necklace in mouth trying to untangle it and accidentally swallowed it’
- ‘Jumped off couch and landed on a spoon’
- ‘Was using a prostate massager and it got sucked in’
The rectum appeared to be the most common place for objects to become embedded closely followed by the ear and the throat with one patient swallowing a fidget spinner (file image)
Some of the items that became lodged also included wireless earbuds (stock image), fidget spinners, Christmas ornaments, an egg timer and even a stuffed bird
Other items that were found wedged in patients’ ears, listed by Vice in an annual round-up, included rock salt, a juice box straw, a decorative seashell and berries.
Some visitors to emergency rooms had sunflower seeds, chalk, bath beads and stickers up their noses.
Condoms, fuses and puzzle pieces had been swallowed by others which then became lodged in their throats.
Male patients were also forced to seek medical assistance after inserting a range of items into their penises such as crayons, magnets, chopsticks and even a screwdriver.
Their female counterparts were similarly aided after getting an equally bizarre range of items – such as perfume bottles, make-up sponges and a roll of tape – stuck in their vaginas.
The full list of items found inside patients’ rectums was extensive but included mattress foam, a water gun, a light bulb and a plunger handle.
Last year foreign bodies lodged in the rectum was also not uncommon in emergency departments including mundane household items such as this aerosol can
The CPSC has operated the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) for the past three decades.
It collects data on consumer product-related injuries, according to its official website.
The data from the survey can then be used to provide a vital indication of whether there is a need for product recall, a public awareness campaign or even the introduction of a new product safety standard.