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Subscribe to RSSA 31-year-old Washington state man gets a barbecue tool bristle stuck in his stomach. KING's Chris Daniels reports.
TACOMA, Washington – A man underwent emergency surgery after a steel bristle from a barbecue grill brush got into his steak became lodged in his intestinal tract.
Adam Wojtanowicz went to Tacoma General Hospital after antibiotics and medication didn’t ease his acute stomach pain on Sunday.
“I would say it was more like being stabbed in the gut,” said the 31-year-old.
His case came despite a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – published to coincide with the 4 July celebrations and reported by msnbc.com Vitals – into the danger posed by barbecue grill brushes.
Physicians at the hospital performed a CAT scan, and Dr. Steve Norton performed emergency surgery on Wojtanowicz, removing a thin, metal bristle from his intestinal tract.
Something not so tasty in your barbecue? Brush debris
KING5
A doctor performed emergency surgery on Adam Wojtanowicz and pulled out a thin, metal bristle from his intestinal tract.
Wojtanowicz said he recently hosted a barbecue at his house, and the steel bristle from his grill brush likely fell on to his steak. He said he probably swallowed it without knowing.
The CDC says it knows of at least six people who have recently suffered similar injuries from brush bristles. It does not blame a particular brand or type of brush.
“This is a huge public safety issue,” says Norton, who says if untreated, the bristle could lead to internal intestinal leakage resulting in death. “I’m now going to think every time now that I go out and barbecue my steaks.”
Wojtanowicz was expected to make a full recovery.
“This solidifies the fact it’s the most expensive steak I’ve ever bought,” he said.
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Leave a Comment:
Chew much?
I've always wondered if anyone has ever done this... Because when I clean my grill with an older wire brush, I see them falling off. I make sure they are all off the grill though before cooking.
Yeah...seems he should chew his steak a little more! He probably wolfed it!! :)
I figure there's no way you can swallow a bristle that large without having bit into it at least once while chewing.
Yes I do! ....and I got a half inch piece of bristle stuck in the roof of my mouth - while chewing. (See complaint at Consumer Safety Product Commission web site). Your comment "chew much" masters the arrogance that I encountered from the brush manufacturer, Brinkman. And while I don't consider what happened to me a "serious" health or public safety issue, if it were you that found one stuck in the roof of your mouth, you just might consider it serious. I hope that as you draw that next fork to your face it doesn't happen to you.
beached - So maybe the problem isn't in the fact that you don't chew your food enough, it is in the dfact that you don't look at what you put in your mouth.
"I hope that as you draw that next fork to your face..." you look at what you've loaded on it.
beached, I'm gonna mock you too. How do you NOT notice a silver bristle on a brown piece of meat? Maybe I'm OCD, but I examine everything before I put it in my mouth, you should try it sometime. No, seriously, you sound like the perfect nominee for a Darwin Award.
If the bristle didn't kill him, the medical bills will surely put him over the edge.
Didn't used to happen when they were made in the USA.
Wow, to everyone attacking Beached, take out a ruler and look at what a half inch looks like. If a sliver that small and BLACKENED by the grill's grease, smoke, sauce, etc had pierced its way into a steak or chicken breast or whatever, do you think you would notice it??? Do you really think it would be silver in a piece of brown meat? Half an inch. Not two and a half. I doubt anyone would notice it, until you bit into it just right. And yes you could actually chew it and swallow it without even knowing. Ever eaten a Dorito chip just the right way and have it stab right into the roof of your mouth? Same thing. Most of the time you just chew and swallow, no problem, but every once in a while...OUCH. Thumbs up and a hug to Beached. Now you can leave him/her alone and attack me.
Good thing he didn't get an MRI... Steel needle + Giant Magnet...
You can always try a dry rub instead.
I hardly think half a dozen cases constitutes a 'huge' issue.
Hmmm, how can i file a lawsuit over this?
That is about the size of a traditional root canal file used in Dentistry. Weve seen this numerous times. Sometimes the patient will aspirate it into their lung resulting in even more massive surgical procedures. I dont do endodontics but I do perform oral surgery and am always watching that the patient doesnt swallow a tooth or fragments of it for the same reasons. Yea, its scary. The lawyer part especially.
That's a very good reason not to swallow your food whole.
"...the steel bristle from his grill brush likely fell on to his steak. He said he probably swallowed it without knowing."
PROBABLY? So there was a chance he knew it was there but decided to swallow anyway?
It sounds like the wire got embedded in the steak and wasn't visible.
Slow news day?
Sounds like this guy had a brush with death...
I'm sure the doctors gave him a thorough grilling to find out what happened.
There was a lot at "steak" here....
wow i was starting to think no one had a sense of humor anymore. lets see how long it takes before someone comes along and ruins it.
*dumps on parade* oh em gee, you guys are so immature.
*whistles and walks away* This is Obama's fault.
Don't throw me on the coals for that
If you let your grill get super hot after your done grilling you can put on a grill glove or oven mitt and use a nice wad of tin foil to clean it off. Works great.
I hope is was a real good steak! ®¿®
how do you make a question mark upside down?
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While holding down the ALT button. Inter 0191. Then let go of the ALT button.
This will not work with some laptops.
0242 = ò
0243 = ó
0245 = õ
02478 = ®
thanks!
I had this happen to me. My experience was a hamburger. At the time I had no idea what was stuck in the back of my tongue while eating a burger. I went to one of those off hospital site emergency places. They refused to even look at me!
Shortly after I got home an 81yr old retired nurse called, and during the conversation I told what had happened. She came right over with her forceps. With a flashlight she spotted and pulled the wire from my tongue. It was nearly a 1/2 inch long. I thought the wire had originated in the meat, but when I looked at the grill brush the next day I realized where the wire had come from. I'm pretty sure it was stuck to a grill grate and then was transferred to the food when grilling.
When you use a grill brush you should then use a towel or paper towel soaked in veg oil to lubricate the grill and get rid of any remaining particles or you are not doing the job correctly. After cooking turn you grill to high for about 5 mins and clean it then then clean it again when you begin to cook after you lubricate it. After all these things are made cheaply and the price is higher now than it was when they were made in america.
Similar thing happened to me on July 4th. Luckily, I felt the bristle in my mouth. Found more bristles on the grill grates. Will change my grill cleaning method immediately.
Just like anything else around the house that needs maintenance, a barbecue grill -- and the cleaning brush -- should be cleaned and checked often, and if anything starts to wear out or come apart, get a new one! It's simple, but people trying to get 'one more use' out of stuff that starts falling apart may now get the idea that it's not just about saving a few bucks -- and some of those brushes are made in China out of who knows what.
"This is a huge public safety issue" ???? Seriously? A huge public safety issue?
im pretty sure 6 incidents of this happening is not a "huge public safety issue" how many people use grill brushes everyday? it is the summer..
Not unless you happen to be one of the six.
Look at the size of that bristle in the photo.
How big an un-chewed gulp did that fellow hog down his gullet anyway?
And as for having a steak, that pretty well says it all after seeing exactly who buy most of the steaks in the local grocery store. It's the obese welfare cases eating on my dime!
Mostly obese welfare cases eat steak? Alrighty then.
TonyinWyo-How about you get educated about food stamps--people using food stamps do not get an unlimited amount of dollars each month to spend. You only get a certain amount which is just very, very slightly above the poverty level! If someone chooses to use their dollars to buy a steak (on your dime LOL!) then the rest of the month they must eat very frugally to not run out of money!
If welfare recipients are obese it is most likely because they are eating a lot of starches in order to fill up inexpensively. Food stamps dollars are a little hard to stretch to eating healthy, i.e. fish, fresh veggies, lean meats.
I once used food stamps many, many years ago while my husband went to school. I absolutely hated it because of judgmental people like you, however, I loved my children more than my pride and they needed food! (None of us were obese, we were all quite thin!)
You probably dont even have a dime and the cost od the entire welfare program that feeds mostly kids would only buy a few planes or taks you heartless POC
Slow news day? Is the election over? Lindsay LoHan now old shoe?
Maybe he couldn't read the warning from CDC!!!!
Likely another example of quality made Chinese products.
I've tested a chinese made and american made grill brush side by side, after only a month or two of use the chinese one has bristles falling out and essentially looks like it needs to be replaced while the american one shows little signs of wear.
You get what you pay for.. buy american products and support your country!
"Likely made in china" That hits the nail on the head cheap junk sold no doubt by wal mart, that`s where all the welfare people shop, If they bought American they would all have jobs!
No, this sounds like good old fashioned idiocy.
I'm glad he is ok, but what the hell?! That bristle was at least 2-inches long and he didn't feel it when chewing his steak? This guy must just inhale his food if he didn't feel a 2-inch piece of steel wire.
Let's see if I have this right...
From the article above the following conclusions have been drawn: the patient must be on welfare; the grill brush was manufactured in China; the brush was bought at Wal-mart; the patient must be obese and doesn't chew his food. Wow, I missed so much when I read this! </end sarcasm>
Don't care if the grill brush was made in China or not but I do care if it's made of plastic or wood. I'm sure most folks brush their grill while it's HOT and when the brush is made of plastic - it starts to melt and the bristles fall out!!! Whoever thought of making grill brushes with plastic is a total moron.
I'm going with voracious drunk on the mental image of the "victim".
First, six people does not make a huge public safety issue.
Second, chew your food.
The last time I read a story like this I wondered if these people do not rinse the grill off? I take the grill off the BBQ, scrub it and rinse it well. And I also use a removable metal grill topper plate. Sure the heat probably "cleans" the grill of germs, but I want to make sure what is not on my food, dirt, germs, or bristles.
Wow - never even thought of such a thing!!! Glad I don't have a grill anymore to have to worry about that! :)