SOMERSET, Mass. (AP) — A young girl who choked on a marshmallow at a birthday party has died. News reports identified an 11-year-old who died at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence last Friday morning. The Somerset, Massachusetts girl had been there since she was found unconscious at a friend’s birthday party one week prior.
The girl’s mother has said that about an hour after she dropped her daughter off, she got a call from the hosts saying she had “passed out”. Apparently, no one realized she was choking when she was found passed out on the floor. When rescuers arrived, they found a marshmallow lodged in the girl’s throat.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued numerous recalls over many years relating to small parts on defective toys. The CPSC as well as watchdog groups like World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (WATCH) have long sounded the alarm about choking hazards associated with balloons, small magnets, and, as this recent tragedy illustrates, even certain foods. Parents and caregivers with small children – please recognize the potential for such hazards, and be educated about how such hazards present themselves, as well as the significant risks involved. There is, of course, no excuse for the design, marketing and sale of defective toys, but ingestion risks abound even for items that at first glance seem safe.
About the Author: James Swartz
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