Your lung is not where you should have your cash

[chrisild]

Do we have a Medicine board? Here is a story that should go there. See the attached photo – this is what a 1 cent coin looks like after having "resided" in a man's lung for several months ...

Christian

[chrisild]

What happened? In January, Bernd Berger accidentally swallowed that coin; he had played with it during a dart game, a friend padded him on his back, and the coin went inside and down so to say. For a while nothing hurt, he forgot about the incident ... except that some time later he started coughing a lot.

In May his doctor found some strange object in Berger's lung, and sent him to a hospital in Hamm, NW. They did a bronchoscopy, located the coin, and were able to get it out without any damage of the lung or the windpipe. The doctor also explained why the coin looked so "deformed": Certain substances in the bronchial secretion apparently corroded it.

See the hospital's press release (in German, with more photos). The patient is doing well, and plans to keep the coin – as a truly lucky penny.

Christian

[Figleaf]

Glad he didn't have the dart in his mouth. Or his foot, for that matter.

Peter

[brandm24]

Obviously a heavy smoker.

Bruce