Soroka Medical Center. (Archive photo)
Photo: Herzel Yosef
Boy named Daud swallows Star of David, saved by doctors
Six-year-old Daud from Rahat in southern Israel was playing with a small piece of jewelry in his home, and accidentally swallowed it; he was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, where doctors carefully pulled it out of his esophagus.
Daud, a six-year-old boy from the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev, was saved on Friday by doctors at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, after a trinket in the shape of a star of David was lodged in his esophagus.
Daud used to play with the trinket, which his family had in the house. Suddenly, while speaking with his sister, Daud accidentally swallowed the small jewelry piece. "His father tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him," Daud's mother, Ilana, remembers, "He slapped him on the back a few times, and followed with presses on the chest, but the boy was still in distress."
Daud's x-ray, in which the star of David trinket can be seen.
Daud was taken to the city's emergency medical center, and from there to Soroka. The doctors at the emergency room performed an x-ray scan, in which the trinket can be seen lodged in the boy's throat. He was taken into surgery, where the doctors performed an esophagoscopy, pulling out the Star of David.
"This kind of situation is a risk to one's life, explains Dr. Bentzi Yehoshua, an otolaryngologist (nose, ear, and throat specialist) who performed the procedure on Daud. "The tips of the star of David could have caused tears in the esophagus, both during swallowing and during the procedure itself, when it was taken out. These tears can risk (the patient's) life quickly, and cause significant bleeding."
"It's a miracle from god that my boy came out healthy," Daud's mother said, "We make sure to leave dangerous things away from little kids, but there's no doubt we'll be a lot more attentive to it now."
