Girl drinks liquid nitrogen, has stomach removed

Monique

A similar vapor layer forms when you transiently put a wet finger into hot oil, but still hot oil can do serious tissue damage. Tissue is exposed to extremely low temperatures for an extended time when liquid nitrogen is ingested.

Ryan_m_b

She's 18, drunk, clearly wasn't made aware of the danger and was given the drink too soon then left unsupervised. I don't see any reason to blame her and every reason to blame the negligent bar staff and this stupid practice.

Apparently various bars in Australia that perform this have had their licenses removed as a caution. A bar owner is quoted as saying it is an overreaction and that his staff are properly trained however given the drinking culture in the UK I support a ban. It's inevitable that something like this would happen at some point with negligent trained staff and the cost of banning it (one less method of going "ooo" for ten seconds before a drink) doesn't for me outweigh the damage already done and the future potential for the same or worse.

jackmell

How about keeping within the context of this sub-forum:

She can't just get another one? I would think it would just pop right in. Surely there isn't a long waiting list for stomachs. I see three issues:

(1) blood supply,
(2) nerve supply,
(3) immuno response to a new stomach.

Are there other issues, are these tractable, is this approach better than a life-long feeding tube, and is this a reasonable course of action considering she's just 18?

Ryan_m_b

It is my understanding that whilst possible stomach transplants are not routinely performed because the risks of transplantation and the need for immuno-suppressants outweigh the potential benefits of a new stomach. She wont have to have a feeding tube but will have a limited diet and have to eat little and often rather than in larger meals spaced apart.

There has been research into tissue-engineered constructs for stomach replacement therapy but we are a while away from any routine procedure of this kind
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21571313
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450251

jackmell

Ok, that makes sense. I do not completely understand all the consequences of immuno-suppression and the other problems that accompany it.

Still though, I suspect she'll develop an eating disorder as a result of this and I wonder which is worst.

cobalt124

For goodness sakes ban it. Loss of a stomach at 18 is a tragedy. It will happen again.

RabbitWho

She obviously did not know what she was drinking. She assumed it was safe, it was just some kind of effect, for example you can get drinks that glow in the dark, you don't assume it's because they're radioactive. You can get drinks that taste like almonds, you don't assume they have arsenic in them.

And look at all the people that eat what they think is arsenic but is actually water, because they think it's good for them, because if it wasn't it would be illegal, because their job is to know, for example, architecture, and they don't know anything about poisons.

It's so awful the way people are unforgiving of other people for being different to them. I mean I know things about art history, if we went to a gallery and you didn't know who did a a painting would I laugh at you? Call you an idiot? Would it be okay if I did?
Does the guy who comes to fix your plumbing call you an idiot because you're not a plumber?
We can't all know about everything, there are lots of restaurants that use liquid nitrogen to prepare food and it's supposed to be safe.


The people who know about this stuff are supposed to protect the people who know about other stuff.


How could anyone be so hateful as to think that someone who is still basically a child deserves to lose their stomach because they don't know about something.
If something bad happens to someone it is because they are stupid?
Is it because you want to think that you are safe and nothing bad could ever happen to you because you are so intelligent?

Ryan_m_b

This is a good time to close.