--- title: 8 Things ER Doctors Refuse to Have in Their Homes description: From guns to swimming pools to ramen noodle soup, here's what doctors avoid keeping at home canonical: https://time.com/4250273/home-danger/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-08T15:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:06.163Z article:section: Health og:title: 8 Things ER Doctors Refuse to Have in Their Homes og:description: From guns to swimming pools to ramen noodle soup og:url: https://time.com/4250273/home-danger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec214780950e035/69888a07cf40a8e0efc424e5/child-jumping-trampoline.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2749 og:image:height: 1546 og:image:alt: child-jumping-trampoline og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 8 Things ER Doctors Refuse to Have in Their Homes twitter:description: From guns to swimming pools to ramen noodle soup twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec214780950e035/69888a07cf40a8e0efc424e5/child-jumping-trampoline.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 8 Things ER Doctors Refuse to Have in Their Homes > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Inside The Operating Room During Awake Surgery [Watch (HLS stream): Inside The Operating Room During Awake Surgery](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lyJruvm0.m3u8) (4:57)  _Published 2015-03-02. Brittany Capone is having a benign tumor removed from her brain and because it is so close to her speech center, surgeons will keep her awake and talk to her during the procedure_ by [Lisa Lombardi / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Lisa Lombardi / Health.com Contributor Mar 8, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  Childs dirty feet jumping on trampoline Childs dirty feet jumping on trampoline Getty Images by [Lisa Lombardi / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Lisa Lombardi / Health.com Contributor Mar 8, 2016 3:00 PM UTC Emergency room physicians see all kinds of grisly stuff, which made us wonder: What products do they consider so hazardous they ban them from their homes and yards? Here are the everyday items that scare these accident front-liners the most. **Trampolines** “We see a lot of serious [trampoline injuries](http://news.health.com/2014/05/05/trampolines-linked-to-more-than-1-million-er-visits-over-a-decade/)…upper-body fractures, broken femurs, neck injuries. That’s why most ER doctors I work with won’t buy trampolines for their kids. They’re all trouble. There’s no good kind. Unfortunately parents get a false sense of reassurance; when there’s a net around something, they think their kids will be safe.”–Ferdinando Mirarchi, MD, medical director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center **Button batteries** “Button batteries are increasingly common in car remotes and portable LED lights but they can be extremely dangerous to young kids. Toddlers like shiny objects and will ingest them. The danger is they can get stuck in the esophagus. When a coin gets stuck, it often passes on its own. But when a [button battery](http://news.health.com/2012/05/14/button-batteries-sending-more-kids-to-er-study-emergency-visits-for-accidental-swallowing-have-doubled/) gets stuck, the battery acid can eat through the wall of the esophagus, causing lifelong disability.”—David J. Mathison, MD, pediatric emergency room physician and mid-Atlantic regional medical director, PM Pediatrics **_Health.com:_** [_Home Remedies Doctors Swear By_](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20578494,00.html?xid=time) **Swimming pools** “Unfortunately, every summer we see kids—even ones who can swim—accidentally fall into a pool and drown. For me, it is the fact that drowning occurs so fast, and often silently, that prevents me from ever wanting one at my house. All three of my children are swimmers, and we take them to pools, but I know that where I live I have left that risk behind.” —Dara Kass, MD[,](http://nyulangone.org/doctors/1043398480/dara-kass) assistant professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center **Power washers and extension ladders** “There are two items I don’t keep around: power washers and extension ladders. We often treat people who have fallen off of high ladders, which results in serious and extensive injuries (head trauma, collapsed lungs). The surprising thing I won’t own is a power washer. People end up with penetrating injuries or lacerations from their intense water stream. ” —Seth Podolsky, MD, vice chair of Cleveland Clinic Emergency Medicine Institute **Guns** “I’m Libertarian enough to be conceptually pro-gun, but I’ve taken care of enough teenage suicides and accidental childhood deaths to not even let my kids go to houses where I know there’s a gun.”—Amy Baxter, MD, pediatric emergency physician at Scottish Rite Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta **Ramen noodle soups** “Ramen noodles, or similar soups in styrofoam containers, get _extremely_ hot when microwaved. It’s the most common cause of scald [burns in toddlers and infants](http://news.health.com/2014/02/04/infants-at-highest-risk-for-childhood-burns/) I see. Parents forget how hot these are when they’re on the counter, waiting to be pulled off by a handsy toddler.”—David J. Mathison, MD **_Health.com:_** [_How to Stock a Smart First Aid Kit_](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20584062,00.html?xid=time) **Old pain pills** “People hang onto leftover pills, especially narcotic painkillers because they’re getting harder to get scripts for. But you should _always_ get rid of leftover medication. We’ve had more kids coming in with overdoses from hydrocodone and oxycodone pain drugs \[found in Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin\]. Just one extended-release pill can kill a child.”—Ferdinando Mirarchi, MD **High chairs that pull up to the table** “I work at a pediatric and adult trauma center, but being a dad, most of my biggest issues are with child products. Over half of ER visits for children under 1 are due to falls. I wouldn’t get a high chair that pulls up to the table, because I’ve seen way too many kids use their feet to push against the table and tip their chair over backward. A fall like this from 3 feet can cause a skull fracture.”–Brian Fort, MD, emergency medicine physician at Central DuPage Hospital [_This article originally appeared on Health.com_](http://news.health.com/2016/03/03/8-things-er-doctors-refuse-to-have-in-their-homes/?xid=time) ## Transcript Are you pretty comfortable dear? The first time I found out I had a tumor, I was 20. Where do you live dear? I would go get something and when I got there, I wouldn't know what I was going to get. Do you know where you are? I couldn't remember things good, so I was nervous. So that it's crazy. [ MUSIC ] I just want water. I first heard about the surgery, where I would have to be awake, about a month ago. It's not a matter of being awake or not. It's just the whole thing about having surgery of the brain period, is going to be, like, the hardest thing. Very nervous. I'm a nervous guy. [ LAUGH ] It's going to be the longest four hours of our life. We just hope this all turns out good, that's all. No. You did not get me a teddy bear. What am I going to do with this thing? [ LAUGH ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ LAUGH ] Brit baby. What? A few more hours it'll be all over. Thank god, I'm tired. So how do you guys all feel? We want it to be over. That's all. If they would let me scrub up, I would love to come in the operating room. I would love it. The idea is to take out the tumor and leave the brains behind. [ MUSIC ] It's sort of a misnomer. You're not awake for the entire procedure. For most of the surgery, you're gonna be quite deeply sedated so that you won't be aware [ CROSSTALK ] It's not terribly traumatic for patients. I always reassure them that we're gonna sedate them. We're not gonna put them to sleep except during the opening and the closing. You're going to be really comfortable. You're going to be surprised. One of the most important people in the room is anesthesiologists. No smiling, no laughing. If you go to sleep smiling you wake up smiling. [ LAUGH ] The art part of this is tailoring those medications to the point where the patient is sufficiently sedated that they tolerate the procedure. Timeout, this is. Brittany Capone, she has a left posterior temporal tumor. Everybody agree we're on the left side? Yup. [ MUSIC ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Left sided tumors we we're worried about speech. And it includes both motor speech and receptive speech. Name a word that starts with B. Brittany. Brittany, there ya go. You can hear the sort of a cadence the patient gets into. And if you notice any hesitancy we can, we could hear it instantaneously. Name something you paint with. Paint brush. That's. The most memorable ones now are, are the, the patients who, who carry on interesting conversations with us during surgery. No fennel. I like fennel too. The whole thing is pretty surreal actually. But reassuring all that's reassuring to us. What time is it? It's ten o'clock. You got a date? You got a date? Do I get to see the tumor? No. Not really. It's going to be hard for you to see it. Are you going to put me back to sleep? Very soon, yes. After the scalp is closed and the head is bandaged, we turn off all the medication. And the patient will wake up. Brittany. Brittany. Brittany. Can you open your eyes? Brittany? It's really, quite amazing how quickly they wake up and how bright and alert they are, after several hours of neuro surgery. Show me your teeth. Big smile. Smile, smile, smile. Good. Stick out your tongue. Good. Craniotomy is not a terribly painful operation. It's not like a chest surgery or an abdominal surgery. Can you lift this leg up? The next day you're walking on the ward after a craniotomy. Try to touch my hand here. There's just not much to hurt in the brain. That's the good thing. Today's a sunny day in New York city. [ MUSIC ] Today is a sunny day in New York City. Mmhm. 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