Button Battery Ingestion

A swallowed button battery burns tissue within hours and is an emergency

Step by Step

Button batteries, the coin shaped cells in watches, remotes, toys, and singing cards, are medical emergencies if swallowed or stuck in the nose or ear: they generate current that burns tissue within about two hours, sometimes with fatal or life changing injuries. Go to an emergency department immediately, by ambulance if the person has breathing difficulty, drooling, chest pain, refusing food, coughing, gagging, or vomiting, or is under 5 years old. Do not make the person vomit and do not eat or drink unless hospital staff advise it, since an endoscopy may be needed. If a magnet was swallowed too, say so: magnets and batteries together are worse. An X-ray finds the battery fast, and removal stops the burning. At home, keep devices closed with screws and store spare batteries locked away.