(ODDITY CENTRAL) – A California teen became the subject of a recent medical paper after getting a metal coin vertically stuck between his vocal cords like in a slot machine.
In a medical report published in this month’s New England Journal of Medicine, a team of doctors detailed the bizarre case of a 14-year-old boy who showed up at the emergency room of a hospital with a hoarse throat and swallowing difficulties. He told the staff that he had accidentally swallowed a quarter, but reported no difficulties breathing and no drooling. However, after performing an X-ray scan of his chest and neck, doctors immediately recognized the severity of the situation, as the metal coin had become stuck in a vertical position between his vocal cords and could damage them if left there for too long.
“When aspirated into the airway by older children, foreign bodies typically lodge more distally than in this case (in the trachea or a mainstem bronchus), owing to gravity and the larger airway size,” doctors wrote, adding that in this case, things happened a bit differently.
