13-year-old New Zealander who had an extra thumb recently—successful surgery on the boy. Doctors operated on him to remove several dangerous high-power magnets from his intestines. One week prior to being admitted, the young patient had ingested ~80 to 100 neodymium magnets. We used cube-shaped magnets with each side measuring 5x2mm. Our own recent event was held in Tauranga, on the North Island. It sheds light on the serious risk posed by online marketplaces to their child and youth consumers.
The boy had severe abdominal pain that did not get any better. They waited four terrible days of his agony before carrying him to the hospital. An X-ray revealed a troubling situation: the magnets had clumped together in four straight lines within his intestines, leading to necrosis or tissue death at four different sites in his small bowel and caecum.
Emergency department physicians stated that the child had recently revealed swallowing the magnets almost a week prior. Once the diagnosis was made, surgeons immediately sprang into action. They successfully cut away greatly expanded dead tissue and were able to get the other magnets stuck deep in the boy’s body.
“He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior,” – hospital doctors in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
That boy was stuck in the hospital for eight excruciating days. At last, he was able to go home, eventually healing from this rare and really scary occurrence. In fact, New Zealand did exactly that, banning such magnets in January 2013. The intent behind the fateful decision was to shield children from their insidious dangers.
The magnets were also bought from the popular online shopping platform Temu. In response to this alarming case, a spokesperson for Temu said they were sorry to hear of the boy’s surgery. They further announced that as a result of this troubling information, the company has commenced an internal investigation.
“At this stage, we have not been able to confirm whether the magnets involved were purchased through Temu or identify the specific product listing. Nonetheless, our teams are reviewing relevant listings to ensure full compliance with local safety requirements,” – Temu spokesperson.
This level of unchecked abuse has led to rampant criticism and scrutiny of Temu and other e-commerce platforms like it. The authors of a paper published in the New Zealand Medical Journal emphasized the broader implications of this case, stating, “This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our paediatric population.”
Temu has faced criticism in a number of other markets, including the EU. Critics have long claimed that the company has failed to sufficiently track and eliminate dangerous products from its site. In response to this incident, Temu has pledged to take a complete review. In addition, they have reached out to the authors of the New Zealand Medical Journal article in order to obtain additional context and details surrounding the case.
“We have launched an internal review and reached out to the authors of the New Zealand Medical Journal article to obtain more details about the case,” – Temu spokesperson.