New research is warning that children are increasingly swallowing button and cylindrical batteries that can lodge in the throat and cause serious injury. The button batteries are used for watches, remote controls, flashlights, hearing aids and cameras. The research, published in the June issue of Pediatrics, comes from two institutions – the National Capital Poison Center and department of emergency medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
One study looked at the problem of battery ingestion found to have increased 6.7-fold between 1985 and 2009. That is a direct result of the increase in the use of the small batteries. Researchers are calling for child-resistant measures including a warning label and a seal to better keep the batteries out of little hands. Lodged in the esophagus, they must be removed within two hours before serious injuries can occur such as tearing tissue, burning and internal bleeding.
Jacksonville product liability injury attorneys are concerned that battery ingestions of both the 20-25 millimeter diameter batteries and the lithium battery cells are on the rise. The lithium batteries pose the most risk because they can cause severe burns two hours after ingesting. The research shows that children under the age of 6 were most likely to be involved in button battery ingestions, in 62.5% of the time.
In the case of fatalities and major injuries, 85% of the time it occurred in children under the age of four. Too often the medical community does not know what to look for and more than half of the fatal cases, 13 of the17 cases, the symptoms were initially misdiagnosed. Researchers say the medical community needs to be better trained in what symptoms to look for including lethargy, poor appetite, vomiting, irritability, cough, wheezing and dehydration.
