Teen Swallows Rare-Earth Magnets And Is Rushed To Surgery

One teen learned a tough lesson after swallowing rare-earth magnets. Christin Rivas, 14, had gotten six of these magnets from a church friend according to ABC 11. These rare-earth magnets are pea-sized magnets made for car wheel bearings and computer hard drives.

According to ABC News, the magnets are also sold for jewelry and art projects. So it isn’t that big of a mystery as to how Rivas and her friends got a hold of them. Rivas said she wanted the magnets so she could play games with her classmates. ABC 11 stated that the magnets were “so powerful that Christin could magically pull a pen up the wall while standing in a neighboring classroom at school.”

All the fun and games came to a halting stop once Rivas accidentally swallowed the small magnets, and was rushed to surgery before they could perforate her stomach. “I was going to the bathroom and I put them in my mouth because I didn’t want to put them on the floor. I wasn’t quite thinking. The kid on the other side said something that made me laugh and I swallow them.” Rivas knew as soon as she swallowed the magnets, that she needed to do something fast because she knew they could be bad news if ingested.

“I started to try to make myself throw up because I read they were really dangerous and I got really worried,” she said. “I told my teacher, and she sent me to the clinic and they called my mom.”

This of course isn’t the only incident where a child swallowed these rare-earth magnets. Last year, The Inquisitr reported on a 3-year-old who nearly died after swallowing 37 of these small magnets.

According to the Daily Mail, Rivas spent a total of five days in the hospital after having surgery to remove not only the magnets, but also a portion of her colon and her appendix. ABC News stated that Rivas’ mother, Barbara, would like to see these magnets banned because of how dangerous they could be, especially once in the hands of small children.

“They are an attractive nuisance, like a swimming pool with no fence around it or leaving the keys in the car when kids are around,” said Barbara. “You can’t cite a kid for being a kid. That’s what they do. Parents should be aware of the potential dangers.”

[Image by Visitor7 via Wikimedia Commons]