6 Doctors Swallow Lego Heads ... What Comes Out?

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

As an emergency physician at Western Health, in Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Andy Tagg says he meets a lot of anxious parents whose children have swallowed Lego pieces. Much like Andy so many years ago, the vast majority of kids simply pass the object through their stool within a day or so. But Andy and five other pediatricians wondered, is there a way to give parents extra reassurance ... through science?

So the doctors devised an experiment. "Each of them swallowed a Lego head," says science journalist Sabrina Imbler, who wrote about the experiment for The Defector. "They wanted to basically see how long it took to swallow and excrete a plastic toy." On today's episode, Sabrina joins Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber to chart the journey of six lego heads, and what came out on the other side.

Learn about Sabrina Imbler's recent book, How Far the Light Reaches, at their website.

Editor's note: This episode contains frequent and mildly graphic mentions of poop. It may cause giggles in children, and certain adults.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, short waivers, just a heads up.
0:02.2	This episode contains frequent and mildly graphic mentions of poop,
0:06.9	but it's for science.
0:08.3	It may not be appropriate for some settings,
0:10.6	but it will cause giggles in children and adults like me.
0:14.7	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:20.5	When I was a toddler, I swallowed a penny.
0:26.3	Don't judge.
0:27.6	My mom was actually extremely worried,
0:29.7	and she took me to the doctor,
0:31.2	and she even called relatives in Taiwan for advice.
0:35.1	When Dr. Andy Tag was a toddler, he swallowed a Lego.
0:38.8	Pretty sure it would have been one of those tiny little flat blocks,
0:41.8	and I thought, well, that's it.
0:42.6	Just put it in your mouth and try and get your teeth
0:44.9	between the little pieces.
0:46.1	Andy is an emergency physician at Western Health
0:48.7	in Melbourne, Australia.
0:50.6	He says that pediatricians get anxious parents
0:53.2	in their offices a lot.
0:55.3	We see it almost every day at work in the emergency department.
1:00.6	And I think it's a lot of evidence
	...

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