[News] Girl almost loses hand in jump rope accident

[Isgrimnur]

 

Story

Surgeons were able to reattach the hand of a six-year-old girl from South Bay, Calif., after a freak accident involving a jump rope cut it off, nbc11.com reported Monday.

Erica Rix was riding in the back of her mother’s SUV and dangling her jump rope out of the window with the rope's slip knot around her wrist. The other end of the rope became tangled in the car’s axle, and as the rope tightened around Erica’s left hand, it eventually sliced the hand off.

[coopasonic]

Holy hell. 

I'm locking my window controls when I get to the car today.

[Scraper]

That had to hurt like hell. I'm just glad the parent (or other adult there) had enough presence of mind to save the hand.

I had a finger severed when I was little and my Dad's friend was present when it happened and he remembered to put the finger in ice. I still lost half the damn thing, but it was the surgeon's fault and not the friend. Medical technology wasn't as good 25 years ago.

[rickfc]

That had to hurt like hell. I'm just glad the parent (or other adult there) had enough presence of mind to save the hand.

But not enough to keep her from dangling the jump rope out the window in the first place.   

[Isgrimnur]

To expand on that line, it being the girl's left hand would lead me to believe that she was sitting directly behind her mother, out of her line of sight.  No mention of any other children or any reason why the child would be sitting out of view of her mother.

Here's a more detailed story.  The attached slideshow indicates that the mother was unaware that she was playing with it out the window. 

[rickfc]

To expand on that line, it being the girl's left hand would lead me to believe that she was sitting directly behind her mother, out of her line of sight.  No mention of any other children or any reason why the child would be sitting out of view of her mother.

Here's a more detailed story.

I can see my back window in my driver's side mirror, thankyouverymuch.  I have no doubt that this girl's mother could as well.  Some people let their kids do just about anything in the car and then act surprised when something happens.

[Turtle]

Did they re-attach the nerves too?  As stupid as the girl was it'd be kind of sad if she lost all use of her hand from this.

[Isgrimnur]

Erica doesn't have feeling or movement in her hand yet but doctors hope that will change with future surgeries. She will also have to undergo extensive physical therapy to help regain use of her hand.

[Chaz]

I'm all for blaming bad parenting, but in this case, I don't think it's the mom's fault.  Strange shit happens.  While it may not have been the best idea for the girl to do that with the rope, who the hell expects it to get tangled around the axle? I've never heard of anything like that happening.  Once it happened, the damage was probably done in a second or two. 

Freak accidents happen all the time, and while this was certainly a horrible thing to happen, I find it hard to blame the mother.  You can't foresee all possibilities in life, and hanging a rope outside the window is really a pretty low-risk endeavor generally.