Hadassah Remove Padlock From Child’s Stomach

Tommy, a 6-year-old from Jerusalem, was admitted to Hadassah Hospital, Ein Kerem last week by his father after accidently swallowing a padlock.

“We arrived at the hospital with heavy hearts and very afraid” said Tommy’s father.

Hospital staff attended to Tommy immediately, urgently needing to decide on the best treatment method.

Dr Ze’ev Davidovics, a senior doctor at the children’s gastroenterology unit at Hadassah explained that “in case of the swallowing of an object,” there are three treatment approaches.

“The first, more conservative approach” he said, “is to let it exit naturally. The second is endoscopic, and the third is surgical.”

They went with an endoscopy, knowing full well that if the procedure didn’t work, Tommy would need to undergo surgery. Davidovics teamed up with fellow senior gastroenterologist Dr Mordechai Slae to carefully devise Tommy’s treatment plan.

They inserted a thread through Tommy’s mouth, knotted it around the padlock, and pulled it out sans surgery. “Tommy didn’t complain at all,” said Davidovics, “but we knew that is we didn’t get it out, it could tear his stomach, and cause him tremendous damage.”

Tommy’s father thanks the medical team at Hadassah, saying

“We knew this was an unusual case, and to our pleasure and relief, we were met with an extremely professional staff. This staff thought deeply and creatively about how to take out the padlock without putting my little boy through surgery”

“The fact that the procedure to take out the object was successful make us all so happy. We are able to return to our normal lives, something we never thought would’ve been possible,” he added.

Davidovics said that, “in light of the variety of objects that kids can swallow, and the damage that can come from that, we felt so lucky we were able to take out the padlock before it could cause any permanent damage.

Editors Note:

The original story was posted on The Jerusalem Post on 12.11.2020 by Sarah Ben-Nun.