Her daughter dies swallowing a battery, she alerts parents to the risks

An unfortunately frequent accident. In the United States, last December, a 17-month-old girl died after swallowing a button cell battery from the remote control. Today, her mother decided to share this tragic event to alert parents to the dangers of small objects in the home.

As she tells Today, Trista got worried when she saw that her daughter was not in her normal state. "At the end of October, Reese became lethargic and congested," she recalled. The mother then took him to the pediatrician, who diagnosed him with a respiratory tract infection. He sent the girl home with medication and told her mum to come back after the weekend if her condition had not improved. But once at home, Trista noticed that the remote control was missing a button cell battery. Without hesitation, she went straight to the emergency room with Reese. On the spot, the doctors gave her an X-ray and were able to confirm that the girl had swallowed the electronic object.

Serious consequences

Swallowing a button battery is very dangerous, especially if it gets stuck in the esophagus. “Electric current flows through the tissues of the esophagus. And when that happens, it starts to kill tissue at the burn site," says Dr. Durkin, director of surgery at Grand Rapids Children's Hospital in Michigan, "it can create a hole in the the esophagus and lead to various complications. The child can be operated on and even fed through a tube. »

Unfortunately, that's what happened to little Reese. A hole formed in his trachea and esophagus: air, food, or even water were no longer passing through the right place. The girl was put on a ventilator and had to be fed with a tube. She also underwent a tracheostomy. Despite the care provided to the little girl for several weeks, she died in December 2020.

His mother now hopes that companies will change their button batteries to more secure models. “Children are dying,” she concludes, “We must do all we can to get this information out to parents and pressure the industry to make changes to protect children. »