Attending physician of e.r., emergency medicine in st. barnabas hospital in new york. this is something you see. coming into the e.r. with batteris. both children and adults sometimes ingest these accidentally. i actually brought some along to show you the different sizes of some of these batteries. there are small disk or button batteries and they re in practically everything we have today. car keys. one of the remote controls from our kitchen. you know and you can see it is easy to open the battery partment and see the some disk battery. jenna: how can it burn a hole in the esophagus? is that the main risk? sounds like a big one but is that the main risk? main risk either causing destruction of the tissue or acid leaking out. the batteries are thin and have positive on one side and negative on the other side. when that gets in contact with saliva and body tissue creates electric current.
Happy, healthy 9-month-old when she developed cold symptoms that wouldn t go away. they said it was probably croup. it was very common. but it never got better. we ended up bringing her to the emergency room. they said, go home, it s going to take time for it to go away. reporter: but it didn t go away. later that night at home, hazel stopped breathing. her mother took her back to the e.r. they did an x-ray at that point and saw what they thought was a nickel lodged in her esophagus. reporter: now in grave condition, doctors examined her x-ray more closely. they realized it wasn t a nickel but a battery. the corrosive nature can begin to cause problems in the tissue within 2 to 2 1/2 hours. reporter: they re in common, everyday objects all around you. simple, round, so-called button batteries made of lithium. when they re accidentally ingested by a young child, it can be deadly. when a lithium battery becomes lodged in the body, it gives off an electrical current which reac
jamie: okay. but if you can t see you need glasses and you need light. these are, i think, fantastic. look. look. headlights! now. [laughter]. the one thing i want to point out to you, caution you about these, they work on batteries. and these are small batteries, these batteries last 30 to 50 hours, now, when you buy the batteries you can get them at a cvs store anywhere, they are called button batteries and you have to be careful about these button batteries, because, if a kid gets ahold of them, and swallows them, it can do irreparable damage to the esophagus. so when changing batteries get rid of them and make sure that they children don t have access. these batteries are also present in some toys, and in other items
That you. the button batteries are very dangerous. but, i was very excited about sharing my eyeglass news with you. because, quite frankly, it changed my reading life. eric: you can stay up and read all you want. and what i have done, too, i ve gotten a pair for my wife. jamie: i was going to tay, frankly they are chick magnets! i m sure camilla went crazy when she saw you in those! panther vision, if you go on the internet, panther vision has them and you can try barnes and noble. jamie: thanks, doc, very much. eric: from the eyes to muscles, do you get muscle aches? how do you get rid of them, we ll tell you about that coming up and more of our exclusive interview with mahmoud ahmadinejad. you swear to allah that you are not planning to build a nuclear bomb? [ female announcer ] last year, the u.s. used enough plastic water bottles
The ones you find in watches or digital toys? they are called those button batteries and you know how tiny they are? they are not difficult to change but there is a medical warning out about these types of batteries. what is the medical warning? i have lots of grandchildren. and when they come to the house i m very worried, i watch what they are eating. if they are eating a cherry or a candy, i worry they ll swallow it, and choke on it. but, one never thinks of the and you know, toys that they use, you want to be sure they are not so small they put them in their mouths and swallow them. but, now, here s another thing that apparently caused several deaths in the last few months. these are the kids play with toys, or remote controls or other things, that have these batteries in them, and they they are not secured, batteries fall out, and the kids take them out, they eat them, and they can