The child ingested a string of magnets which resulted in damage to his intestine. Officials at Schneider’s Children Hospital, due to rapid detection and intervention, permanent damage to the child’s intestinal tract was avoided.

The experts at Schneider report the 19-month-old boy was brought in and they were told he ingested the string of beads. The child complained of stomach pain, which was confirmed on x-ray, which clearly showed the string of beads. The child was admitted as doctors decided to see if it pass without intervention.

Doctors explain that they were told he swallowed the “string”, which appeared to be beads on x-ray, but the second x-ray after he was admitted showed the string of “beads” had not moved from the previous x-ray.

At this point doctors began becoming concerned the string of beads was magnets, and an intestinal obstruction might result. In fact, they learned later, during surgery, that it was string of no less than forty magnets.

It was decided that surgery would be required as they detected some damage to intestinal wall. The surgery was performed successfully and the child remained for observation as doctors wanted to be certain his digestive system was not compromised.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Schneider Children’s Hospital spokesman)