I hate to say it, but maybe it WAS wrong for the employee to hand it directly to the child instead of the parent? Shouldn't employees be better trained than that? Shouldn't they know better in the first place?

One would think that, lenona. On the other hand, I have a friend who is very gluten-intolerant, as are a few of her kids. Her youngest boy, at age 2, will ask her, 'mommy, wheat?' if he is handed ANYthing or if he wants something. How she trained him to be so aware of his allergy, I have no idea, but the kid is amazing about it!

I thought doctors usually let coins come out the other side naturally. Why was this one so dangerous they had to risk openin the kid up?

I thought doctors usually let coins come out the other side naturally. Why was this one so dangerous they had to risk openin the kid up?

Posted by: Elle at February 4, 2014 9:48 AM

My guess is the parents went directly to the emergency room, and threw a screaming hysterical fit. There by prompting the hospital to act, on the assumption that if they didn't, they would be added to the lawsuit against the zoo.

Their claim that the coin was handed directly to the three year old is suspect, a question of fact, the plausibility of which, will have to be determined by a jury,

As a mom of 2, I am really starting to think there is a lot of paranoia about kids swallowing things. Oh, sure, I know it happens. But by the time she was 3 my daughter knew way better than to put small objects in her mouth, let alone swallow them. My one-year-old son sometimes gets his hands on a "choking hazard," but that's as far as it gets--in his hands. I really think a child that old taking a coin and immediately swallowing it is the exception, by far.

I notice the article said that the family also has no insurance. If they have kids and no insurance the boy probably didn't have a lot of sense to inherit in the first place.

Yeah, I gotta say, the employee shouldn't have handed him the coin... it's hard to keep things away from your kids if someone is handing them things... I can see it going super fast, employee hands it, kid pops it in before parents can react...

Parents can't keep all dangers away from all kids at all times. It isn't possible.

Yeah, I gotta say, the employee shouldn't have handed him the coin... it's hard to keep things away from your kids if someone is handing them things... I can see it going super fast, employee hands it, kid pops it in before parents can react...

Parents can't keep all dangers away from all kids at all times. It isn't possible. And how do you train a kid ahead of time to ask you about a souvenir coin? That's not like gluten. That's a very specific danger.

I firmly believe this should fall into the category of "accidents happen, shit happens". -Maybe- have the zoo cover the hospital bills and some small amount for lost workdays. Nothing else.

And ONLY if the scenario happened quickly, if the kid was playing with it for a while and the parents knew about it, then it falls under their watch.

Looking at the article it looks like it was one of those pennies that you see from tourist traps where they run a penny through a press and put words/images in it.

So essentially they thin out the penny and make into an oval. Depending on the die maker is what the edge turns into is a sharp edge.

So I see why they doctors cut it out. The responsibility does get questionable though.

I actually read the article (I know, I'm sorry). The penny was attached to a postcard when it was handed to the child. Probably neither the parents nor the zoo thought anything of it. This falls under bad luck amd/or inattentive parents.

A medical bill of 50k for an endoscopy is absurd. Uninsured parents are also absurd. Filing a lawsuit is just absurdity number three.

I guess babies should come with warning labels.

"I'm not saying we should kill all the stupid people.

I'm simply stating we should remove all warning labels and let the problem sort itself out!"

George Carlin, I believe.

"My mother watched us the way an eagle watches small woodland animals that look like lunch. "

HA! Love it.

Is that not to say Amy, that we can't simply drop them off in the woods?

So the family forked over $16 for tickets, and the promise of a free gift, for which Ethan and his 5-year-old sister Harin soon began clamoring.

“They kept saying, ‘I want it!’ ” the mom recalled.

The gift for each family member was a pressed penny, imprinted with the words “Dinosaur Safari” and secured with plastic wrapping to a postcard advertising more than 30 similar coins for sale. An employee handed the coin directly to Ethan, according to the Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit.

“I was really disappointed at the time,” said Yi, who thought the gift would be more substantial.

Anyone thinkg the disappointment in the less-than-substantial "gift" left the parents upset with the zoo - which may have influenced their decision to sue?

And, note that the gift was "secured with plastic wrapping to a postcard" - so it's not like the zoo was randomly handing out choking hazards to toddlers.

I'm sure the zoo's lawyers looked over the proposed handout to check for legal liabilities and pronounced it acceptable.

The panicked mother and her husband, Heung Ju Yi, tried desperately to dislodge the coin from Ethan’s throat but couldn’t, and rushed Ethan to an emergency medical clinic, where X-rays showed the penny had entered the stomach.

“They said it would come out a few days later,” the mom recalled.

A second X-ray the next day showed the penny wasn’t moving, and doctors urged the Palisades Park family to get it removed — the family went to the Hackensack University Hospital ER.

So, less a panicked set of parents demanding extraction and more a rational medical decision to have the surgery.

Honestly, reading that snippet from the article changes everything. I've seen such souvenir coins, and as an adult I have had a hard time peeling up that plastic covering without help from a knife or scissors. As noted, the zoo's lawyer(s) probably looked over the setup and deemed it safe.

As far as Inattentive Dumbass Parents at Zoos go:

This is a lot better than those Inattentive Dumbass Parents who ignore their kids, kid scales wall and gets in enclosure with Ferocious Creature, and then the zoo both gets sued and must kill Ferocious Creature.

And how do you train a kid ahead of time to ask you about a souvenir coin? That's not like gluten

You could always do what my parents did. A smack on the back of the head and say "stop putting shit in your mouth"

Personally I think "Your honor we move for a directed verdict in favor of the defendant on the ground that the plaintiffs are fucking morons, and no one could reasonable anticipate the level of abject stupidity they would display" should be heard more often in courtrooms across the country

Sorry folks, But, don't blame the zoo employee. It would have been better for the parents to watch their kids and see what strangers are handing to them.

The parents knew ahead of time they would be getting something - so this wasn't a surprise "here kid take this." The mother even stated that the kids were clamoring for it.

What kind of parent does NOT check out something that was just handed to their 3-year old?

I could see not questioning a 13-year old; but, come on, your 3-year old is handed something and the parent doesn't take a look at it?

These parents are clueless and/or greedy.

One possible outcome of this might be for the zoo to stop giving out such items. Which reminds me of when we were in the cub scouts and got tickets to see a professional baseball game; the den mothers took us on "bat day." Each kid got a small souvenir baseball bat; but, we were so disappointed because the ball park didn't give them to us until it was time to leave. One of the mothers asked why and was told that the ballpark couldn't stop some kids from using the small wooden bats as weapons.

So, as with the Bat Day disappointment; this will most likely cause these idiot parents to ruin the fun for others. Idiots!

As a mom of 2, I am really starting to think there is a lot of paranoia about kids swallowing things.

Totally. Based on my own childhood, it's much more rational to worry about what the child will stick up his or her nose!

If the story is true, the zoo is fucked on this one. The employee's mistake was to give it to the child (if that pans out). He/she should have given it to the mother. Problem - except for the choking kid - solved. Most likely they will, as NicoleK suggested, be up for medical bills and lost time.

A few things that are totally irrelevant
- That they were uninsured doesn't mean jack shit except to confirm prejudices and make it easier to look down on the mother.
- Plastic wrapping doesn't mean shit either.
- I doubt the park's lawyers were involved in the slightest, and it wouldn't matter if they were ("we checked with the lawyers" is not a defense). Contrary to popular belief, "the lawyers" hardly ever have any involvement on day to day decisions. I work in construction and I've only talked to lawyers to discuss commercial conditions or post-project disputes. The very idea we would consult with them for a promotional program? Forget it.
- To bash the parents too, the lack of warning sign doesn't mean jack shit either. I hope you're not relying on that in court.
- Also, parents, attacking the doctors for saying give it a couple of days, then going to a non-invasive procedure because that didn't work is an asshole act.

"Why was this one so dangerous they had to risk opening the kid up?"

They didn't open him up Elle, they did an endoscopy (go on, you choose which end you prefer). It did say after two days - natural passing was clearly not occurring. Yes, the article makes a big deal over the OMG "in general anesthesia for two or three hours" - if I was going to get a pipe with tools on the end shoved up my ass I'll take anesthesia any day. Two hours sounds more like a heavy sedative anyway, you really don't recover that fast from a surgical GA.

So, as far as I can see, employee fucked up. Parents fucked up too, not as much at the time, but in their statements afterwards. Doctors did their job. Parents are perfectly entitled to try to recover costs. System working.