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Toddler Swallows 37 Magnets: X-Ray Finds Buckyball Toys Shredded Payton Bushnell's Intestines

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 03/05/2012 8:25 am Updated: 03/05/2012 2:13 pm

A 3-year-old Oregon girl underwent invasive surgery over the weekend after she ate 37 magnets, ripping holes in her lower intestine and stomach.

Payton Bushnell's parents thought that she had possibly come down with stomach flu when she started showing symptoms, according to KPTV.

When they took her to a doctor on Friday, an X-ray revealed a bracelet-shaped object in her stomach. But the object was no bracelet -- Bushnell had swallowed 37 high-powered Buckyball magnets, a desktop toy.

The magnets throughout her digestive tract forced the little girl's intestines to snap together. They punctured four holes in her intestines and stomach, UPI reported.

"The surgeon came out and said, 'I wouldn't do this unless I absolutely have to but we have to cut your daughter open,'" the girl's father, Aaron Bushnell, told KPTV.

Payton Bushnell is on her way to a full recovery, but doctors said that if they hadn't conducted a routine X-ray when she came in for a checkup, she could have died. Her symptoms -- abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea -- were flu-like and common among children who have swallowed magnets, which is why the problem is difficult to diagnose without an X-ray.

The station reported that there have been 22 cases of children swallowing magnets since 2009.

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08:21 PM on 12/24/2012
Stupid kid.
Suffer No Fools
MORE abortions--not less.
08:18 PM on 11/01/2012
RIDICULOUS. Just because stupid parents don't watch their kids, EVERYONE else has to suffer and the government has to play fricking babysitter. I am SO sick of this garbage. This is why we can't have nice things.

Parents ought to just sign a freaking contract the second a kid pops out of the womb mandating that they stick little Precious in a big, insulated plastic bubble so it can't get hurt, won't eat stuff that the parents are too preoccupied to make sure they AREN'T eating, can't skin its little knees/bump its little head/trip on anything, and doesn't have to have every inch of space that it occupies scrubbed down with anti-bacterial soap (because God forbid Precious gets a cold. Anti-bacterial soap and the overuse of antibiotics so Precious doesn't gets the sniffles is going to cause a HUGE superbug that we won't be able to get rid of because Precious' parents have been too vigilant killing off harmless germs...)until it's 18---then it's on its OWN and the rest of us don't have to suffer just because the parents are depending on the REST of the "village" to raise it. People are LAZY. You have to go through a whole screening process just to adopt shelter animals---people should be required to pass a common sense I.Q. test before being allowed to replicate. If they fail, they can grow vegetables instead of brats and save the rest of us a HUGE headache.
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north of 60
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
11:53 PM on 03/08/2012
The unintended 'rewards' of inattentive parenting.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
p pitstop
It's like waiting for Godot...
01:37 AM on 03/07/2012
These toys should be banned. Period.
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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
11:55 PM on 03/08/2012
It's impossible to make the world 'idiot proof'.
Human nature will always provide a better idiot.
Suffer No Fools
MORE abortions--not less.
08:19 PM on 11/01/2012
You got it.
Suffer No Fools
MORE abortions--not less.
08:32 PM on 11/01/2012
No. Parenting like this should be banned. People should by law be required to pass a common-sense I.Q. test before they're allowed to replicate. You have to go through a huge screening before you can even adopt a shelter pet--people should at LEAST have to pass some sort of equivelent if they think they want to be responsible for raising something more complicated than tomatoes. I'm sick of everyone else having to pay for the stt up idity of others. Everyone expects other people to watch their progeny instead of actually parenting them themselves. This is why we can't have nice things.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MissFrijole
My bite is worse than my bark.
03:41 PM on 03/06/2012
I have a coworker who brought those bukyballs to work. They are pretty intriguing for about twenty seconds. He is always playing with them, which makes a good set-up for dirty jokes. It's good that the girl was seen in time. Someone should have been watching her as she played with those or put them out of her reach.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Toddie Pilates
Right, Cheers ! Thanks a lot !
11:48 AM on 03/06/2012
Glad they were able to help the little girl ! Makes me queasy to think about it ....
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Helen Greenfeld
"There is Nothing New Under the Sun"
11:35 AM on 03/06/2012
I don't care how distracted the parents are. Where the heck were they?
Suffer No Fools
MORE abortions--not less.
08:20 PM on 11/01/2012
Assuming that the rest of the universe was responsible for watching out for this kid instead of them, apparently.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Helen Greenfeld
"There is Nothing New Under the Sun"
03:10 PM on 11/02/2012
excellent answer :)
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
avas
10:28 AM on 03/06/2012
Unfortunately with the economy so bad both parents (if there are two) are usually distracted by work or worries. They are not watching the children. When I was young there was not any childproofing going on. But you were always watched and disciplined, etc. Even giving the parents the benefit of the doubt , these type of toys have no place in a house with toddlers.
09:52 AM on 03/06/2012
And I should have said...if you have YOUNG children in the house, these magnets have no place in your home. For older kids, supervised, I think they are educational and interesting. Sorry!
09:50 AM on 03/06/2012
If you have children in the house, these small rare earth magnets have NO PLACE in the home. We have a set, and my son is 8. We only pull them out when we're playing with them together. Even at 8, I know he KNOWS better than to put them in his mouth, and I'm pretty sure he never would, but is it worth taking that chance? These are very dangerous! We can't protect our kids from everything, but kids put stuff in their mouths, we know this. I swallowed pennies as a kid when I was swimming even thought I knew better than to put them in my mouth.

It just isn't worth the huge risk to take even the slightest chance with these. If a child (or pet) swallows more than 1, you are guaranteed emergency care needed.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
see-ellen2001
07:36 AM on 03/06/2012
Hmm...dare I say, my iPad decided it preferred 'bigot surprise'. I think those kind of folk are in another section...perhaps the Food section?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
see-ellen2001
07:35 AM on 03/06/2012
Small, round, SHINY! Candy-like. No bigot surprise. Yeah for modern medicine.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
melanied0721
being offended doesnt make you right
06:57 AM on 03/06/2012
i didnt know 3 year olds still put things in their mouths... where did she get them? the parents didnt notice they were missing?
indigoblue322
Guinea pigs are the answer to world peace.
12:30 PM on 03/06/2012
What? Why wouldn't 3 year olds still put things in their mouths? Do you think they evolved out of it?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
melanied0721
being offended doesnt make you right
02:59 PM on 03/06/2012
my 3 year old does not..
06:39 AM on 03/06/2012
It might sound obsessive, but you have to keep checking on babies, toddlers continuously. Things can happen soooo quickly. I think alot of parents are not up to the mandatory task of watching their children non stop. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a parent say " oh, she's ok, she's just playing" or "he's in his room playing with his toys". Hello, paying with what, doing what. Some people would say I'm an alarmist an worry wort, but like the old say: an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. I'd rather be obsessive, than have to live with fatal results or permanent medical issues because I just "assumed" everything is fine.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Estrict2
05:16 AM on 03/06/2012
I don't belive in baby proofing. I believe in parenting. It is what I was taught by my grandmother (who had 12 children), mother (who had 5) and has worked for me well with my own 3 (ages 9-25). My holiday is Christmas and I have had big village with lots of lights and tiny people fo well over 25 years. All of my children have understood the look but don't touch since they were old enough to move. All of the 'injuries' they have ever had were normal boy outside types. If you don't want to be a parent and watch your children, don't have them.
Suffer No Fools
MORE abortions--not less.
08:22 PM on 11/01/2012
THANK YOU!!!!! Exactly. If people can't take the time to actually RAISE their kids instead of depending on the "village" to do it for them, they shouldn't replicate in the first place.