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Six-year old girl disemboweled in a pool


dorkybatty

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Abigail Taylor, 6, was seriously injured in the wading pool of a St. Louis Park club after a drain sucked out several feet of her intestine.

A 6-year-old Edina girl remained hospitalized in serious condition Wednesday after an unusual accident in which several feet of her intestine were pulled out by the suction of a swimming pool drain.

Abigail Taylor was injured Friday in the wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park and taken to Children's Hospital for surgery.

"It's a horrible, life-altering injury," said Robert Bennett, the attorney for Abigail's parents, Scott and Kathryn Taylor.

Bennett said doctors had to perform surgery to remove the part of Abigail's intestine that remained following the accident. He said it is likely that she will have to be fed intravenously for the rest of her life.

Bennett said doctors now are concentrating on preventing infection and managing pain, and are also deciding what course to take on further potential medical procedures to treat the injury.

Bennett said Abigail does not yet know the full extent of her injuries. "She knows she's been hurt," he said. "She's a strong little girl. How she extricated herself from that drain I'll never know."

Although some details of the accident are still fuzzy, it is known that Abigail was able to free herself from the drain and get out of the pool on her own without calling for help. As a result, the extent of her injuries wasn't immediately evident to the people near her.

In a message posted on the Caring Bridge, a nonprofit Internet site that offers free Web pages to families of people recovering from illness or injuries, the Taylors said the protective cover on the pool's drain had come off.

If so, the scenario of the injury fits a pattern that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned about in a 2005 report, "Guidelines for Entrapment Hazards: Making Pools and Spas Safer."

According to the report, if a child sits on an open drain, the suction, which can reach several hundred pounds per square inch, can rupture the rectum and eviscerate the child in a matter of seconds.

There have been three such incidents since 1990. The most recent was two years ago when a 3-year-old was disemboweled by a hot tub drain.

None of those accidents was fatal, although in the same time span 13 people, most of them children, drowned after being caught in underwater drains.

Abigail's injury comes as Congress is considering new pool-safety regulations. Instead of having one main drain, both public and private pools would be required to have multiple drains with reduced suction. Owners of existing pools would be able to install safety release sensors that will turn off the suction if it the system is blocked.

The Minneapolis Golf Club referred calls to its insurance company, which wasn't open Wednesday because of the holiday.

Bennett described the Taylors, who have three other daughters, "as brave and optimistic." He said they are focused on Abigail's immediate recovery, her long-term future care and steps that can be taken "to make sure this kind of thing never happens to anyone else again."

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1285137.html

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:o how horrific! I can't even comprehend something like this happening, especially from a drain. Makes me sick to my stomach, that poor girl.
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That would be some weird kind of pain to feel.

Edited by Dark_Ambient
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this strengthens my belief in not swimming in pools poor girl

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Thats unbelievable, I cant begin to imagine what was going through her mind at the time. Not forgetting the pain either.

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ouch poor little thing any more info on her for donations etc...

You could donate part of your intestine.

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Unfortunately...children being injured or even killed in suction at swimming pools is not that uncommon. Two summers ago in Fort Worth Texas a church group was visiting the botanic gardens. There was a large pool of water with waterfalls. A young girl from the church group jumped in to just cool off and was immediately sucked down by the pumps...another person jumped in to save her and then her father and then another person...in all 4 people drowned. A policeman jumped in also and barely escaped the suction but lost his socks in the process!

Edited by joc
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That is so unreal. If there wasn't a source with this information I would take it as an urban legend. I hope her pain is minimal and she is given the highest of care :(.

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LMFAO :wacko:

Dude, we're talking about a kid who has no chance of a normal life now. What is so funny?

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That is too horrible to even imagine....I have also read a few other stories of this happening...Not to long ago,it was the boy in the hot tub....I can only hope that all goes well for her... :mellow:

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how.. the.. *uck.. did that happen

that would ultimatly suck, i feel sorry for her and her family, she cant even get a real chance at a normal life now

Edited by Conspiracy
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That's just awful. I can't imagine how she escaped that unaided. Poor girl. The article says she will most likely have to fed via tube for the rest of her life. Perhaps there's a way to te get her a trasnsplant if a suitable doner is found. I know doctors have performed partial intestinal transplants before. I hope her family has good insurance.

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how.. the.. *uck.. did that happen

that would ultimatly suck, i feel sorry for her and her family, she cant even get a real chance at a normal life now

That happened because the safety shield on the intake of the pump was either missing or malfunctioning. Centrifugal forces in these high powered pumps in commercial swimming applications can be huge. The larger the pool...the higher pump ratios and the higher centrifugal forces in the suction of the pump. Public swimming pools therefore should be used with caution.

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That happened because the safety shield on the intake of the pump was either missing or malfunctioning. Centrifugal forces in these high powered pumps in commercial swimming applications can be huge. The larger the pool...the higher pump ratios and the higher centrifugal forces in the suction of the pump. Public swimming pools therefore should be used with caution.

Jeez... That would have to be one hell of a force

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This happens way too much. When the hell will pool-makers figure out that they have to either make the suction weak enough that they won't suck out organs, or make the grates bigger than anyone's body parts can cover to avoid suction. They could even install some sort of detection thing that detects when the suction is blocked by something (someone). Even my vacuum cleaner shuts itself off if the suction is blocked for too long. It's insane that in a world that bans the dumbest things for being "dangerous" that something as dangerous as this is allowed to be used in so many pools.

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I remember hearing stories like this as a kid, however I don't really believe it. Any person who has ever dissected an animal would know that the intestines as part of the digestive tract are ...thereby connected to the mouth. So unless the innards were already severed inside and detatched from the membranes encasing them and such, the most that might happen would be one could have a bad hemmoroid.

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what the?

that would have hurt

Imagine if she was stuck under water!

people need to think about mixing kids with pools

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That is just horrible! What is wrong with people can they not install something to prevent this happening! Why must someone always be hurt before any action is taken! They should sue the pants off of the people who make those pump things...

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I remember hearing stories like this as a kid, however I don't really believe it. Any person who has ever dissected an animal would know that the intestines as part of the digestive tract are ...thereby connected to the mouth. So unless the innards were already severed inside and detatched from the membranes encasing them and such, the most that might happen would be one could have a bad hemmoroid.

This is an actual documented case as well as this is not the first time this has happened. There are other documented cases as well. I'm not really sure why you wouldn't believe it. It does say in the article that she would most likely have to be fed intravenously for the rest of her life so it must have pulled quite a bit out. Hardly sounds like this poor child just has a "bad hemmoroid."

I could hardly read this. It just made me cringe. Definitely will make me more cautious when my friend's children are in the pool where I live.

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