The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ER doctors recommend parents never give these toys to children
When shopping for toys, we often want to pick something fun. But can some of them also be dangerous? According to emergency room physicians, they can be. In a video that went viral on TikTok last year, Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, said certain gifts can land children in the ER.
“It’s important to know the risks,” Martin said in a phone interview, adding that it’s up to parents to make decisions based off that information.
Toy-related injuries accounted for about 145,500 emergency room visits for children ages 12 and younger in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
So which toys pose the highest risks? The Washington Post asked ER doctors across the country that question and how adults can help keep children safe.
Water beads
These brightly colored beads grow exponentially when immersed in water, making them popular sensory toys. But emergency room doctors and safety experts caution against them.
Young children may put the beads in their ears, nostrils or, worse, their mouths. When swallowed, the beads can continue to absorb water and grow in the intestinal tract, leading to blockages and life-threatening injuries, said Sarah Combs, an emergency medicine physician and director of outreach for the emergency department at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In her emergency room, Combs said she has not personally seen these beads caught in the gut, but has seen them in the ears and nose. Such objects are usually pulled out with a specialized tool, but sometimes, because the beads are “slippery and expanded, we can’t,” Combs said. In those cases, children may require surgery to remove the beads, she said.
Toys that include magnets, tiny batteries
Toys with magnets or button or coin batteries are choking hazards, but many parents don’t know they can cause severe internal damage or even death.
“If you swallow a battery or magnet, you can get decreased blood supply to areas of the bowel or tissue necrosis — the death of body tissue,” said Kerri Layman, the chief of emergency medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Swallowing button batteries can also lead to burns, she said.
This happens when a button battery comes into contact with saliva or other bodily fluids. The current in the battery causes a reaction that can burn a hole in the tissue.
The most serious issues typically occur in the esophagus, Layman said, because the batteries can get stuck at the narrow area behind the thoracic inlet, which is between the neck and the chest.
Be mindful that children can get access to the batteries even when they are enclosed.
“Sometimes the screws holding button batteries in place may be loose and fall out,” Layman said. But generally, “those that are screwed in properly are much more safe than those that are just accessed via a tab closure.”
Electric scooters and hoverboards
Don’t buy electric vehicles such as scooters and hoverboards for children, emergency room doctors and safety experts say. They can go fast, “and you don’t really want a child careening at those speeds,” Combs said.
That can lead to broken bones. These fractures can usually be reset in the emergency room but may require surgery in more serious cases, Combs said.
Nonmotorized scooters are considered a safer choice, though they are a leading cause of injuries: In 2022, they were the product associated with the largest number of toy-related injuries — about 23,000 injuries among children 12 and younger, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But because nonmotorized scooters travel at slow speeds, injuries from them are usually less severe, Combs said.
When giving children nonmotorized bikes and regular scooters, provide safety gear to go with it, Combs said.
“Make sure you’re also gifting a helmet and appropriate padding – and make sure that helmet is something the kid is going to want to wear,” she said. “Pick one in their favorite color or pick one with a cool character on it to incentivize safe play when they’re using the toy.”
Trampolines
Although kids love them, trampolines are a common cause of a wide range of injuries.
The most common ones that Joanna S. Cohen, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, has seen are sprained ankles and broken arms. This usually occurs, she said, when more than one child is jumping and they collide with each other.
Injuries can also occur from falling on the springs or the frame of the trampoline, falling off the trampoline or attempting flips or other “risky” stunts and landing incorrectly, Cohen added.
Martin said young children have also come into the hospital with lower leg injuries, usually a fracture in the tibia, from bouncing on trampolines. This can happen when a child is jumping on the trampoline by themselves, but it’s more common when there are two people of different sizes.
“The person that is larger is creating more force, and that force is being exerted on the smaller person,” Martin said.
Getting an in-ground trampoline or having a net around it may reduce the risk of falling off, but it provides only a false sense of security, Martin said.
Anything that can launch or shoot
Toys that shoot projectiles, such as rocket launchers, toy guns or slingshots, can cause various injuries, including to the eyes. The toy may inadvertently go off during play, launching a projectile and hurting the child’s eye, causing a severe close-range injury, Combs said.
“Please don’t buy projectiles that shoot small pieces at children,” Cohen said.
Hello, Toni: My husband, Jay, retired six years ago when he turned 65. He enrolled in Medicare Part A only and decided to delay Part B since I put him on my employer’s group health plan. Recently, I read an article about failure to enroll in Medicare Part B when turning 65 and the additional cost for each year that one delays enrollment.
I plan to keep my husband on my policy until my retirement in 3 years when I turn 65. I spoke with a representative at the Social Security office and asked if Jay would receive a penalty for delaying enrollment in Part B. The rep said he would not but that Jay will need to provide evidence that he has been enrolled in my employer health insurance.
I am overwhelmed because I do not know what to do for Jay’s Medicare when I retire at 65.
— Shirley from Dallas
Hi Shirley: I have good news for you because the Social Security representative gave you excellent advice about your husband’s Medicare. I have written about the famous form to verify employer benefits for those enrolling in Medicare past 65 called CMS L564 “Request for Employment Information.”
Form CMS L564 is filled out and signed by your Human Resources department, and Jay will fill out CMS 40B form “Application for Enrollment in Medicare Part B.” Under #12 Remarks of CMS 40B, state which month Jay wants his Medicare Part B to start. Across the top of each form, write “Special Enrollment Period” to claim the Medicare enrollment period he wants to enroll in to keep from receiving a Part B penalty.
Avoiding a Medicare Part B penalty when past 65, as you discovered, Shirley, is stressful. But initial enrollment is not the only stressful issue. A reader recently visited the Toni Says office for a consultation because his wife is retiring. The husband, 72, has been enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B since he turned 65 in 2018.
The wife, who qualified for the Medicare Supplement Open Enrollment (6-month enrollment period) because her Medicare Parts A and B began in
February 2024, can pick whichever Medicare Supplement plan she desires without having to answer any health question.
But the couple is experiencing the pain and agony of trying to enroll the husband in a Medicare Supplement, as he has health issues. He is currently on both spousal company benefits and Medicare Parts A and B. However, because he has been enrolled in Medicare since 2018, he can apply only for a “guaranteed issue” Plan F, not G, Medicare Supplement policy, as he has heart and cancer issues that keep him from qualifying medically. (Chapter 3 of Toni’s Medicare Survival Guide Advanced edition discusses the enrollment rules for Medicare Supplements.)
Readers, you must have a current company benefit termination letter to prove to the Medicare Supplement insurance company that you are in a “guaranteed issue” period in order to avoid having to answer health underwriting questions. If you do not have a current termination letter and you have health issues, you will not qualify medically because of those issues, and you will have to choose a Medicare Advantage Plan HMO or PPO.
I have written about this special sixmonth window many times and have stressed the importance of enrolling in Part B at the correct time and the correct way. Remember that if you leave employer benefits and decide to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, you should verify that your medical providers are in the network for the Medicare Advantage plan that interests you. Toni King is an author and columnist on Medicare and health insurance issues. She has spent nearly 30 years as a top sales leader in the field. If you have a Medicare question, email info@tonisays.com or call 832-519-8664. The “Medicare Survival Guide Advanced” edition and her new“Confused about Medicare” video series are available at tonisays.com.