Phone Charger Sends 120 Volts through Teenager's Body
By: Josh Berry
Updated: February 28, 2013
"Absolutely scares me," said the father of the girl, both of whom asked to remain anonymous for the girl's safety.
As the father removes bandages, traces of scarring on her neck and chest start unraveling.
He added, "This could have easily been a funeral today that we're attending rather than taking the bandages off her burns she got being shocked by an electric cord."
Saturday night while on the phone, one wrong move changed this girl's life.
"A few seconds later and she could have been dead," her father says.
Her copper necklace caught in the prongs of the iPhone charger she had connected to an extension cord in her bed. It sent 120 volts coursing through her body and out her hand.
Open air still stings the third and second-degree burns on her body.
She spent Saturday night and Sunday in the Burn Center at Children's Hospital for care and monitoring.
"When an electrical current goes through your body it goes through your heart too," said Nikki Spriggs with the Burn Center.
This was something the nurses there have never had walk through their doors.
Spriggs added, "In all these 29 years I have never ever once heard of an electrical injury being caused from a cellphone."
Multiple injuries could be sustained from something like this, with the most crucial being possible damage to electrical pathways in the heart.
The hospital says what you can see is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of the damage is much deeper than what's evident on the surface.
They hope the amount of burning she suffered won't be enough to require skin grafts.
The family says they don't blame the manufacturer, but call it a freak accident. One that will scar her forever.
Her dad remarked, "Something she's gonna have for the rest of her life."
They're just happy 120 volts wasn't enough take this 15-year-old's life.
As the father removes bandages, traces of scarring on her neck and chest start unraveling.
He added, "This could have easily been a funeral today that we're attending rather than taking the bandages off her burns she got being shocked by an electric cord."
Saturday night while on the phone, one wrong move changed this girl's life.
"A few seconds later and she could have been dead," her father says.
Her copper necklace caught in the prongs of the iPhone charger she had connected to an extension cord in her bed. It sent 120 volts coursing through her body and out her hand.
Open air still stings the third and second-degree burns on her body.
She spent Saturday night and Sunday in the Burn Center at Children's Hospital for care and monitoring.
"When an electrical current goes through your body it goes through your heart too," said Nikki Spriggs with the Burn Center.
This was something the nurses there have never had walk through their doors.
Spriggs added, "In all these 29 years I have never ever once heard of an electrical injury being caused from a cellphone."
Multiple injuries could be sustained from something like this, with the most crucial being possible damage to electrical pathways in the heart.
The hospital says what you can see is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of the damage is much deeper than what's evident on the surface.
They hope the amount of burning she suffered won't be enough to require skin grafts.
The family says they don't blame the manufacturer, but call it a freak accident. One that will scar her forever.
Her dad remarked, "Something she's gonna have for the rest of her life."
They're just happy 120 volts wasn't enough take this 15-year-old's life.
Comments
I hate to be a grammar [censored], but with this being a NEWS site...let's look at this. First, "...an extension cord in her bed sending. It sent 120 volts..." Fragment much? Then, let's see about those "skin graphs". Never heard of that, but I have heard of skin GRAFTS. But enough on the grammar. What kind of [censored] would have an extension cord ON the bed? Is it really that critical to have your phone charged up? I am glad she is going to be OK, but really? We're blaming the phone charger? How about blaming the PERSON for having an extension cord IN THE BED with her! I mean, if I had a phone charger in the shower with me and got electrocuted, would it be the fault of the phone charger, too? Come on, now!
Aaron H.
February 28, 2013 at 10:23 am
I'm glad she's okay, considering. And, I'm also glad to hear her parents recognize that it's the fault of the manufacturer of neither the charger nor the outlet. They wouldn't work if they weren't designed in such a way, after all. It was just an accident that could've happened to anyone wearing thin, dangly metal accessories.
LR P.
February 28, 2013 at 8:51 am
