What Doctors Found in a 3-Year-Old's Stomach Stunned Everyone

A shocking incident recently unfolded in northern India, making headlines across global media. A 3-year-old boy had been complaining for months about severe stomach pains. Despite multiple hospital visits, doctors repeatedly said 'there is nothing wrong' and sent him home with painkillers. Only when the symptoms persisted, and medications failed, did they finally order an X-ray—which revealed everything. 

It turned out that all along, the child had been swallowing tiny metal pieces (!) he found in his mother's jewelry box. During a surgery that lasted several hours, astonished doctors removed about 29 magnets, tiny metal balls, a round battery, and even a small coin from the boy's stomach, things he swallowed while unsupervised. Miraculously, none of the metals resting in his belly caused any damage throughout this ordeal. 

Photo: Illustration

"It seems he'd been swallowing these items for over a year," said the professor who performed the surgery, Dr. Brahm Datt Pathak. "I would go so far as to say it became a bad habit for him. The magnets clumped together and formed a giant ball, which was essentially responsible for his pain. It was extremely complicated. My team and I felt like we would never finish removing all the metals from his little stomach."

Further inquiries revealed the family's involvement in the jewelry business, operating a small manufacturing and sale shop from their home. The child apparently got used to picking up scattered jewelry pieces from the floor and storing them in his stomach. "If the pieces were small enough, they would have passed through his system," the professor explained. "But these objects were too large, which is why they caused him so much pain."