USB Attacks Toddler, Phoney Stella Lawsuit Imminent

A 16 month old child was brought to the hospital with 3rd degree burns to the mouth and lip area, and the culprit appears to be a iPod charging USB cable. The mother, Rhianna Anderson, claims that the child was only out of her sight for a minute and that her daughter, Trinity, must have placed the connector into her mouth. She found her daughter face down and limp. Then she was rushed to a thankfully nearby hospital and resuscitated. Trinity remains under close supervision, but is expected to recover. The mother, studying to be a nurse, apparently missed the day in Nurse's school where they teach you that small children will put anything in their mouths.

Forgive our callousness, but there's several problems with this story. Two things appear to have happened, which are being argued jointly but need to be examined separately. Trinity's heart stopped, and she received very serious burns to the inside of her mouth and her fingers. Even if we grant that the tiny amount of voltage and current, less than a 9V battery produces, generated by a USB port did affect her heart, it would have taken a loooong time for that voltage to have burned her so severely alone. It may not be common practice now, but in the olden days, we used to test to see if a 9V was still good but touching it to our tongues. A tiny shock told us it was. A 9V would easily fit in your mouth, and I can't recall any stories about that hurting anyone. A lamp has been brought into question that was nearby and metallic, rational people are charging that it is the more likely culprit due to unexplained burns on the child's hands. This does make more sense but if some sort of circuit were bridged from the lamp to the USB cord, wouldn't the laptop have been seriously fried? We hope, for the safety of the child, that an investigation is done and that she recovers quickly.