A tiny battery – the most dangerous foreign body, especially in the respiratory tract – that a 4-year-old toddler had inserted into the nasal cavity, was pulled out on Saturday night by the director of the peditric ENT department in Laniado Hospital, Dr. J. Walgelrenter

On Shabbat night, a 4-year-old toddler was brought to the emergency department of Laniado Hospital by his parents. During the Shabbat meal, the toddler was playing with a toy, pulled out a tiny battery and pushed it into the nasal cavity. The frightened parents, who live nearby the hospital, ran with the toddler to the emergency department of Laniado.

A few minutes passed from the moment the battery was inserted into the nasal cavity until the parents arrived at the department. The department’s staff called Dr. J. Wolgelrenter, director of the hospital’s ENT department, from his home in Carnei Shomron. Dr. Wolgelnerter arrived at record speed and pulled out the battery by means of a gentle surgery.

Dr. Wolgelrenter explains that “contact of a battery with the lining of the respiratory tract or esophagus produces a very rapid burn process that may cause life-threatening and irreversible damage. As soon as I received the report from the staff of the department, I drove urgently to arrive and retrieve the battery.

The pictures of the battery next to a normal battery show how, within an hour and a half of the moment the battery was inserted into the nose, significant corrosion was formed. I call on parents to pay close attention to their children and prevent playing with such batteries”.