Intentional ingestion of batteries and razor blades by a prisoner: a true emergency?

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-06-2021-0054
• Published date: 23 September 2021
• Date: 23 September 2021
• Pages: 316-322
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice
• Author: Ioannis Pantazopoulos,Georgios Mavrovounis,Maria Mermiri,Antonis Adamou,Konstantinos Gourgoulianis

Intentional ingestion of batteries and razor

blades by a prisoner: a true emergency?

Ioannis Pantazopoulos, Georgios Mavrovounis, Maria Mermiri, Antonis Adamou and

Konstantinos Gourgoulianis

Abstract

Purpose –Few case studies in the literature report on adult patients with intentional foreign body

ingestion. Prisoners deliberately ingest foreign bodies, such as cylindrical alkaline batteries and razor

blades, to achieve hospitalization or commit suicide. The purposeof this paper is to present a case of

deliberateingestion of batteries and razor blades by an inmate.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors present a case of an incarceratedman in Greece, who

intentionallyingested three cylindrical alkalinebatteries and three razor blades wrapped in aluminumfoil.

Findings –The patient was treated conservatively with serial radiographs and was subsequently

discharged without complication. This paper discusses the complications and examine the current

guidelinesavailable.

Originality/value –To best of authors’ knowledge,this is the first report of a simultaneous ingestion of

batteriesand razor blades.

Keywords Intentional ingestion, Emergency imaging, Foreign body, Batterie s, Razor blades, Prison medicine,

Battery ingestion, Ingestion

Paper type Case study

Introduction

While the majority of literature regarding foreign body ingestion has focused on accidental

foreign body swallowing in adult and pediatric patients, few studies have reported on adult

patients with intentional foreign body ingestion (Sahn et al.,2014). Most of these patients

have underlying psychiatric diagnoses and repeatedly swallow common household items

such as pens, spoons and toothbrushes(Sahn et al.,2014) or are prisoners trying to commit

suicide or manipulate the prison system (Tien and Tanwar, 2017). Indeed, in the latter

population, intentional ingestion of foreign bodies is described more commonly than in the

general population and is one of the most important reasons for seeking surgical

consultation amongst prisoners. Most of the prisoners are male, aged 15–44years and

often have history of mental disorders, drug addictionand alcoholism (Narjis, 2014).

In this paper, we report on the case of an incarcerated man who presented to the

emergency department (ED) of our institution in Larissa, Greece, following the deliberate

ingestion of three cylindrical batteries and three razor blades and discuss the complications

and management of the incident.

Case presentation

A 35-year-old incarcerated male presented to the ED of the University General Hospital of

Larissa in Greece, complaining of abdominal pain of acute onset. The pain had started13 h

previously and was described as dull, diffuse, radiating to the back and was alleviated by

leaning forward. He did not report any accompanying symptoms such as fever, loss of

Ioannis Pantazopoulos,

Georgios Mavrovounis and

Maria Mermiri are all based

at the Department of

Emergency Medicine,

University of Thessaly,

Volos, Greece. Antonis

Adamou is based at the

Department of Radiology,

University of Thessaly,

Volos, Greece.

Konstantinos Gourgoulianis

is based at the Department

of Respiratory Medicine,

University of Thessaly,

Volos, Greece.

Received 20 June 2021

Revised 15 August 2021

17 August 2021

25 August 2021

1 September 2021

Accepted 2 September 2021

Funding: The author(s)

received no specific funding for

this work

Conflicts of interest: The

authors declare no conflict of

interest

Author contribution:

Conceptualization: PI, MG

Data curation: PI, MG, MM, AA

Formal analysis: PI, MG, MM,

AA

Investigation: PI, MG, MM

Methodology: PI, MG

Roles/Writing - original draft: PI,

MG, MM, AA

Writing - review & editing: PI,

MG, MM, AA

Project administration: KG

Supervision: KG

PAGE 316 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRISONER HEALTH jVOL. 18 NO. 3 2022,pp. 316-322, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200 DOI 10.1108/IJPH-06-2021-0054