The parents of an Australian girl who died from swallowing a button battery are calling for urgent regulation.
Brittney Conway was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood and rushed to hospital in late July, where she endured nine hours of surgery as doctors tried to save her life.
The battery burnt through the three-year-old girl's oesophagus, into her aorta, ABC News reported.
She died from her injuries on July 28 at Queensland Children's Hospital.
Her parents, Lorraine and David Conway, hoped government changes would be made to regulate the use of button batteries and make them inaccessible to small children.
There is no mandatory regulation of button batteries in Australia. They are shiny and about the size of a 5 cent coin - commonly found in toys, TV remotes other household items.
Once swallowed, the small batteries start to burn internally and cause life-long injuries or death.
Brittany Conway is the third child to die of swallowing a button battery in Australia since 2013. In New Zealand, around 20 children are admitted to Starship Children's hospital for button battery-related incidents every year.
On the afternoon of July 6, Lorraine Conway told ABC News that her daughter said her throat was sore, before vomiting three times.
Conway called a doctor, who guessed that it was food poisoning.
The next day, Brittany vomited after eating, experienced terrible chest pain and a bloody nose.
Brittany was taken to Robina Hospital where her mother asked for an x-ray, but "no x-ray was carried out", Conway says.
The doctors didn't physically examine Brittany and said she likely had a virus.
After monitoring Brittany for four hours she was discharged from hospital, but vomited on the way home after eating.
"I'm not a doctor in any way, I'm only a mum, but I just knew something wasn't right with her," her mother told ABC News.
Nine days after first experiencing a sore throat was when Brittany was found in a pool of blood. She was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital and x-rayed immediately, where her parents discovered the battery.
Kidsafe chief executive Susan Teerds says the regulation of button batteries is critical.
"For 40 years companies have been dumping these, what I call landmines, into our homes and they've known they're problematic," she told ABC News.
Queensland Health has said they are carrying out a review of Brittney's death.
In 2018, New Zealand enacted a "product safety policy statement" to improve warning labels on potentially harmful products, including button batteries.
Following the death of a 4-year-old Australian girl in 2013, a coronial inquest concluded with 13 recommendations for button battery manufacturers.
The recommendations included mandating warnings on product labels and advertising, securing battery compartments, and making products fit for purpose so they don't break and release batteries on impact.
What to do if your child swallows a button battery
- Take immediate action. Go straight to the hospital if you think your child has swallowed or put a button battery in their nose or ears.
- Do not try to make your child vomit.
- Do not let your child eat or drink anything until receiving medical advice.
How to keep kids away from button battery injuries
- Search your home and any place your child goes for devices that may contain button batteries.
- Keep button battery-controlled devices out of sight and out of the reach of children.
- As an extra precaution, put duct tape over the TV remote and other devices, and keep loose batteries locked away.
