Metal wire in woman's hot dog pierces tonsil 'like a fishing hook'
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LAKE STEVENS, Wash. -- When Rebecca Flick bit into her hot dog, she tasted something strange.
"I felt this sharp stabbing in the back of my throat," she said. "Toward the last bite of my hot dog, I instantly felt the cut in my throat ... had instant bleeding."
What cut her throat was a piece of metal wire that had been stuck in her meat.
"It could have ripped up my esophagus," she said, adding she rushed from the backyard barbecue to the emergency room. X-rays show a piece of metal lodged in her Flick's left tonsil.
"Hooked in almost like a fishing hook," she said.
The hospital sent her home, but Flick, a medical assistant, didn't feel she should let the metal be. So she visited a second hospital, this time heading to the emergency room at Overlake Hospital where a surgeon removed the metal.
Flick held on to the piece of metal the surgeon removed.
"So this is the wire they pulled out of her. It's almost 2 centimeters long," said Greg Colburn, an attorney representing Flick.
A few days after the hot dog scare, Flick underwent a tonsilectomy.
"It's about $30,000 in medical expenses after all this happened," she said.
Flick has hired an attorney who is now trying to determine whether the metal wire broke off the grill brush or was already in the hot dog by the time it reached the grocery store. The hosts of the barbecue Flick had attended had cleaned off the grill with a metal-bristled grill brush before cooking up hot dogs, including the one Flick ate.
"It would be a product liability case against either the manufacturer of the hot dog or manufacturer of the brush, because they've placed an unreasonably dangerous product out onto the market place," said Colburn.
Colburn is now looking for others who've faced similar dangers, including Tacoma resient Adam Wojtanowictz, who swallowed a Brill brush bristle during a barbecue last summer.
"It still blows my mind, how I could swallow this without noticing it," he said.
Flick is now overly cautious about examining her food before consumptions. And hot dog are not on the menu.
"It's very scary," she said.
Colburn said he has already found two others who found a piece of wire in their grilled foods.
"I felt this sharp stabbing in the back of my throat," she said. "Toward the last bite of my hot dog, I instantly felt the cut in my throat ... had instant bleeding."
What cut her throat was a piece of metal wire that had been stuck in her meat.
"It could have ripped up my esophagus," she said, adding she rushed from the backyard barbecue to the emergency room. X-rays show a piece of metal lodged in her Flick's left tonsil.
"Hooked in almost like a fishing hook," she said.
The hospital sent her home, but Flick, a medical assistant, didn't feel she should let the metal be. So she visited a second hospital, this time heading to the emergency room at Overlake Hospital where a surgeon removed the metal.
Flick held on to the piece of metal the surgeon removed.
"So this is the wire they pulled out of her. It's almost 2 centimeters long," said Greg Colburn, an attorney representing Flick.
A few days after the hot dog scare, Flick underwent a tonsilectomy.
"It's about $30,000 in medical expenses after all this happened," she said.
Flick has hired an attorney who is now trying to determine whether the metal wire broke off the grill brush or was already in the hot dog by the time it reached the grocery store. The hosts of the barbecue Flick had attended had cleaned off the grill with a metal-bristled grill brush before cooking up hot dogs, including the one Flick ate.
"It would be a product liability case against either the manufacturer of the hot dog or manufacturer of the brush, because they've placed an unreasonably dangerous product out onto the market place," said Colburn.
Colburn is now looking for others who've faced similar dangers, including Tacoma resient Adam Wojtanowictz, who swallowed a Brill brush bristle during a barbecue last summer.
"It still blows my mind, how I could swallow this without noticing it," he said.
Flick is now overly cautious about examining her food before consumptions. And hot dog are not on the menu.
"It's very scary," she said.
Colburn said he has already found two others who found a piece of wire in their grilled foods.
The same thing happened to me, but I had the wire lodged in the very back of my tongue. This caused me to have difficulties eating and eventually I could not eat at all. I lost my voice too. I went to several doctors and none of them could find the cause. Finally, my GP sent me to an ENT, who found the wire immediately and removed it right in his office. I felt better right away and continued to improve daily. I had gone down to 98 pounds from lack of nurishment while the wire was still lodged. The wire measured 5/8 of an inch and I still have it. This happened earlier this year from eating a potaot chip, I thought. We had eaten a steak the day before and they believe the potato chip got hooked on the wire causing me discomfort. I am fine now and Thank God for that. I did not think of suing anyone though.
So now KOMO is soliciting business for an attorney? Great.
Question:  Was the tonsillectomy scheduled prior to the cookout?  If so,  how fortunate that they may not need to pay the cost for it if they sue someone. Defense attorney needs to to get a sample of the metal from the scrub brush and compare it to the one she has - just in case.Â
What a shame that something that would have been seen as a rare, unfortunate happening in the '60's (and would have us  thankful that no lasting damage was done) would turn into a greedy lawsuit and ruin what could potentially be a good friendship. Â
She's lucky here tonsil caught the metal. I can't imagine the costs if it would have punctured her throat or intestines.
i love hot dogs-I prefer them slightly burnt on the grill
If she would have chewed her food thoroughly, she most likely would have noticed the wire bristle being in the food.. So many people just wolf their food down.. I am one of those too who do that..
Now, who actually gets sued? Not the brush company.. because when you use a wire brush on a hot barbequeue, the bristles heat up, and get loose.. this is the homeowners responsibility.. It will fall back on the homeowners insurance.. Same thing if I trip and fall at a party at your home... you can be sued. The unfortunate part, is that the insurance companies weigh what it would cost to fight an allegation, (in this case that shouldn't happen) and make the decision to pay based on cost. Sometimes the frivolous suit will win..
When you clean a grill with a wire brush.. gotta make sure there aren't strays left behind.. Brush it, then wipe it down with a rag.. makes sense..
@Mr. HÂ I agree that some people wolf down their food however with the piece of metal only being 2 cm I doubt you would have noticed it even if you chewed thoroughly.
" piece of metal wire that had been stuck in her meat"
Almost sounds like some kind of snuff film
Ive seen this happen before, the bristles don't stay on a brush forever. You have to visually inspect the broiler/grill EVERY time you clean it with a brush. Not to do so is an invitation to pain. Why would a hospital NOT remove a wire in your tonsil, least of all send you home with it in? That sounds weird to me, and then to have to have a tonsilectomy afterwards? Maybe I dont understand the whole thing, but it seems like overkill.
My friend, say hello to a million dollar hotdog!!!
Carcinogens, rat feces, intestines, and meat "timmings." I think a metal wire is the most appetizing ingredient in a hot dog.
Oh for crying out loud... if this lady sues the brush maker for a bristle coming off the brush.. you have got to be KIDDING.... that is about as stupid as say... suing a toothbrush company because you brush wore out with use... sheesh... how stupid!
A bristle comes off the brush of a grill cleaner, and it's lawsuit time? Â While I have noticed far too many incidents lately with corporate America's food products containing, glass, metal, and plastic (Special K, Shredded Wheat, Fred Meyer/QFC bread,) Â sometimes stuff happens, and it's not law-suit lottery time. Â Â
A brush manufacturer cannot guarantee that a bristle won't come off. That's ridiculous. THey have no control over how long someone has the brush, how vigorously they scrape with it. Â Sometimes terrible stuff happens and it doen't mean a big payday. Â I once had a sandwich in a restaurant where the cook had apparently broken off a large toothpick into the sandwich, then instead of removing the unseen broken 2" shard, just put a new one in. Â Yes, it cut my mouth, no I didn't sue -- just got my bill paid.Â
"It still blows my mind, how I could swallow this without noticing it,".
Deep Throat!
This is what the world needs, another lawsuit hungry Atny: next time you clean your grill use a wad of aluminum foil, it cleans as good as a brush, is cheaper and you toss it out when your done!
@Budds That's a great idea.Â
Not everything needs a fricken lawsuit. Food processing plants use magnets that the food passes under per FDA requirement. It likely came from the brush. The brush manufacturer can't control how someone cares for their product. I would be willing to bet this brush was left outdoors.
Frivolous lawsuits like this are why insurance is so expensive.
@seattleemt I hired an attorney once to investigate the circumstances of an accident I was in; where I was a pedestrian and a truck hit me. When it became clear to me that it was not the truck operator's fault, I dismissed (fired) the attorney. She then told me she was "blindsided" by this, that she couldnt believe I had declined to pursue legal action.
I agree with you, its completely out of hand.
How about quality built USA made grill brushes that don't fall apart? This was probably made in China.
The first hospital sent her home without removing the wire from her tonsil? That don't seem right.
@Insomniac Dreams Seems like the first hospital showed negligence, as well, as they reportedly saw the wire on a x-ray and sent her home. That makes no sense; it was a sharp foreign object that didn't belong in her throat. What was she supposed to do at home?
A tragedy indeed however its just as much of a tragedy that no one seems to be bothered by the cost of "medical expenses"
$30,000 dollars is absurd.
@2times I had a small surgical procedure done 18 years ago. I had insurance but the original bill was $23k. The ins. co paid $1100. If this woman did not have health insurance then the bill could easily be $30k. Hospitals charge insane amounts of money  for things. Like $30 for a single diabetes test strip -- the very same ones that sell for $25 for 100 of them at Rite-Aid.Â
An uninsured person can have a heart attack and end up with over a million in medical bills.. leading, of course, to a second..Â
How dare she ask for compensation for an injury that cost her tens of thousands. It's entitlement all over again! Send her to prison for life for the crime of protecting herself!! Better yet, execute her so we don't have to pay for her for the rest of her life!Â
</sarcasm>Â
"It would be a product liability case against either the manufacturer of the hot dog or manufacturer of the brush, because they've placed an unreasonably dangerous product out onto the market place," said Colburn. Translated......."either way, we're gonna sue SOMEBODY, and gonna get rich the EASY way!"Â However, here are the flaws that will get "lawyer junior" picked apart. One, you can't prove the wire was in the hot dog, from the factory, without a reasonable doubt. Two, the wire grill brush has a warranty. If the people that own the brush, used it past it's warranty expiration date (as I have done personally being a barbeque FANATIC), the fault would lay on the person holding the barbeque. Unless the person grilling the meat can prove that the brush was still under warranty (by keeping the receipt, and WHO does that for a grill brush?)..the hot dog and grill brush manufacturers will be off the hook. I hope this lady is willing to sue her friend, because it's more than likely the ONLY way she's getting paid from this one. Out of curiosity, why wasn't the FIRST hospital named, and why isn't she going after THEM?
@Harley-H.S.C.
"One, you can't prove the wire was in the hot dog, from the factory, without a reasonable doubt"
Reasonable doubt applies to criminal cases not civil; this would be a civil case.Things like warranties and waivers do not absolve one from liability.Lawsuits that go beyond compensation for damages (punitive) are designed to reform or deter.This lady obviously doesn't deserve a huge payout but that's not the point of the payout.If the bristle is determined to have fallen out of the brush due to poor manufacturing and it takes a large payout to reform the companies manufacturing, I'm all for it.This stuff happens too often, nearly happened at a barbeque I was at last summer.It was from a shoddy 'new' brush where the bristles where just falling out.We should set standards were companies should at least have to try to make a safe product.Although we obviously don't have enough information here to conclude that either the hot dog or brush manufacture were at fault.
You're suppose to chew your food before you swallow, you would of detected with your teeth. How did it make it to the back of her throat before it hit her tonsil?Â
@Grandmacj Ex porn star?
@Harley-H.S.C. ROTFLMAO!!! Â
Looks more like steel wool, maybe from an older cleaning effort.
Any wire brush used long enough is going to lose bristles. I guess they are going to have to put warning labels on them too now.
@Ankle Biter Or better yet, BAN them!!!!
@Harley-H.S.C. @Ankle Biter Naw, don't ban them, just make them have a 7 bristle limit ;)
Interesting that she is not suing the hosts of the barbecue.
@Tim Lane Because they don't have money like a brush or hot dog company.
@Tim Lane give it time
 "It would be a product liability case against either the manufacturer of the hot dog or manufacturer of the brush, because they've placed an unreasonably dangerous product out onto the market place," said Colburn.
This doesn't look like something from a grill brush. If it is though, it appears they are going to sue the brush manufacturer?!? That is just ridiculous. Nothing is built to last forever, and products with bristles "shed" as they get older. Suing the grill brush manufacturer would be like suing a tire manufacturer when the tires start to wear and flake.
Her first mistake was eating a hot dog.
@jowsuf hahaha so true!
@LeslieLouAnn @jowsuf My thought exactly.  Hey It's cool, I will eat the 37 different kinds of mystery meat in this hotdog, but if something gets in it that I can actually identify, I will sue you.Â
It was an accident, nothing more and nothing less. Consider how many hot dogs are consumed in even a single day or how may grills have a wire brush used for cleaning and you see how this is a one in a million accident. Sure, it is a BIG deal for the person who gets it but it doesn't justify suing anyone.
 I have picked stray wire bristles off my grilled food many times.  After reading the story about the guy in Tacoma I bought a different and more expensive brush hoping to solve the problem.  BBQ brushes only last about 6 months in our house, we grill a lot, so I buy cheap ones.   After just a few uses, the new expensive one was shedding, even worse than the cheap ones.  Now I'm looking for alternative tools that will still do a good job cleaning my grill with out added seasoning in my food. Yuck.
@B.Leigh Use one half of a sliced onion coated in veggie oil on the cut side.  The oil lubes up the grill while the enzymes in the onion on the hot grill cut through any nastiness on there.  Works like a charm.
The hospital sent her home
O_o  Â
My sister just found a metal shaving in her Dole brand smoothie drink. Looked exactly the same too. Seems like some quality assurance step is being skipped, or equipment inspections are failing (that is, if this didn't come from a bbq brush!, seems a little small)
@Censored P. Censored I have noticed a ton of stories about fragments in food lately.  Yay, corporate America!  Plastic, glass, metal, in the processed foods.  I'm pretty much giving up on processed foods (eat very little of them know anyway.)  Giant corporations that are in it simply to enrich the top investors, have no interest in providing healthy and safe food. They lay off so many workers, or ship the jobs to Mexico to save money (where they don't have the same safety rules.) Heck, people would be shocked to see how much of the processed foods they eat are made in Mexico (like Fig Newtons,) and how many more have ingredients from China (most processed junk has chemical products from China.) Â
@Censored P. Censored Was her smoothie cleaned with a wire grill brush beforehand?Â
Wire looks a bit thin to be part of a wire grill cleaning brush doesn't it?
@Joy Johnson Looks like a staple to me.
I wonder what's more dangerous. The wire, or the "normal" contents of the standard hotdog? Those things are nothing but pig anuses (& other disgusting animal parts), nitrites, and various other chemicals. Â