Lightning Strikes Teenager Listening To iPod

[Janice]

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- A teenager who was hit by lightning over the weekend talked about his close brush with death Thursday.

Jason Bunch was mowing the lawn and listening to his iPod at his home in Castle Rock in the 3200 block of Cherry Plum Way on Sunday when he was struck.

He was taken to the hospital and was then put into the intensive care unit. Bunch recovered and was released from the hospital.

"I woke up and blood was coming out my ears," Bunch, a Douglas County High School senior, said.

t was just two weeks ago that doctors in London warned of the dangers of listening to an iPod or using a cell phone during a thunderstorm.

The doctors said having such devices near your head when hit by lightning can result in even more severe injuries. The metallic devices and wires could act as a conductor, causing potentially lethal internal injuries, the doctors wrote in a letter to the British Medical Journal.

They cited the case of a teenage girl who was using a cell phone in a London park who was hit by lightning and received very severe injuries. The 15-year-old girl later became wheelchair-bound. She has cognitive, emotional and physical problems. She also had a badly perforated eardrum in her left ear.

When a person is struck by lightning, the high resistance of human skin usually results in lightning being conducted over the skin rather than through the body -- a process known as flashover.

But Dr. Swinda Esprit said in the letter that conductive materials in direct contact with skin such as metallic objects -- like a mobile phone or iPod -- disrupt the flashover and result in internal injury with a greater risk of dying.

There were other similar cases in Malaysia in 1999, South Korea in 2004 and China in 2005. The people died in all three cases. The authors said there were no previous reports in medical journals.

"All these events resulted in death after the people were struck by lightning while using their mobile phones outdoors during storms," they wrote.

[wx247]

Wow... that is not fun at all! I won't ever take my iPod outside now. The image that creates... ick.

[azsnowman]

There was another strike yesterday in Colorado but not with an Ipod.....the guys were hiking and out of nowhere "POW!" Didn't kill 'em but left 'em deaf for 2 days they said.

[george_r_1961]

A few years ago here in VA a group of men were out golfing. They heard thunder but decided to finish their game. Unfortunatley for one of the golfers the game is over forever as he was struck and despite CPR being started immediately he later died.

Who in their right mind would stand in the middle of an OPEN FIELD with a METAL GOLF CLUB (lightning rod)?