

Last Thursday, a 16-year-old guy, identified as Wang Chuan, bet his classmates that he would totally swallow a thumbtack for 200 RMB. Not only that, he also managed to drive three ballpoint pen refill tips into his abdominal cavity through his navel. Talented guy.

Li Pengyu — vice director of emergency surgery at the Jinan hospital where Wang was treated — told reporters about the challenges surgeons faced while treating their patient. Li said surgery would damage Wang’s intestinal tracts, so it was better for him to eliminate the pin naturally. After receiving a healthy dose of laxatives, the boy fortunately excreted the pin the next day, Qilu Evening Post reports.

To avoid resorting to more damaging surgical procedures, Li said that doctors spent four hours locating and removing each of the one-centimeter-long ballpoint pen tips with a laparoscope. The ballpoint pen tips were said to have been constantly shifting position and the boy was lucky to have come out of all this without his intestinal tracks and abdominal cavity punctured.

While we’ve heard of people swallowing foreign objects out of rage or naivety, this might be the first time we’ve seen someone swallow something this dangerous, just to win a dumb bet. Oh wait, this should probably go under naivety. What little money Wang earned by winning the bet sure won’t cover his medical expenses.

By Victor Fung

[Image via Qilu Evening Post]

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