Working in a busy urban emergency room, I often see children with injuries that could have been prevented. A rare but real danger is glass mercury thermometers. Aside from the mercury, we have children who see injured by a fraction of the glass - may be taken either during their temperature or if the child (or siblings) is to play with them. This demands of us to irradiate it from X-rays and CT scans to look maintained for each glass. Some children need even before minor surgery to remove parts of the thermometer (glass or wires) from its mouth, rectum or ear. It can have a traumatic experience for a child, removed those pieces.
Although the sale of mercury glass thermometer has been in Massachusetts in 2002, a recent study my colleagues have been banned, and I published the rate of injuries was found in fact to 2004 to 2007, according to a general decline of 1996 to 2002. This seems to indicate that these families still thermometers in their homes.
That should not be. Digital thermometers are fast and accurate, and the standard of care in hospitals. As a specialist in the prevention of injury, an emergency room doctor and mother of two small children, I would recommend, in accordance with the disposal of waste glass mercury thermometer, if you have one, and the purchase of a secure digital thermometer. If you are a clinician, please tell your families about the dangers of mercury glass thermometer - and it's not just about the mercury.
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