The Woman Who Swallowed a Toothbrush and Other Bizarre Medical Cases

Debbie Feisst is the reference/Internet resources librarian in the
Information Services Division of the Edmonton Public Library.

Rob Myers is a Toronto-based cardiologist at Sunnybrook Health Science
Centre and a professor at the University of Toronto. He is the author of
Take It to Heart: Your Complete Guide to Preventing and Treating Heart
Disease and The Man Who Lost His Head and Other Forensic Tales. He is
also a self-proclaimed addict of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. This book
features 51 engrossing medical vignettes. Some are darkly humorous, some
tragic, and all seem unbelievable, yet each one is based on a case
published in a leading medical journal such as the Lancet or the Journal
of the Royal Society of Medicine. Each case is fully explained in plain
English, as is the diagnosis, scientific explanation, and medical
intervention. For example, a young woman who claims to have accidentally
swallowed her toothbrush while brushing her teeth is exposed as a
bulimic when it is realized that the toothbrush is lodged in her throat
bristle-end up.

The vignettes are presented as riddles to be solved. The cases involve
unusual medical symptoms or circumstances that often lead to death. A
young man experiments with electroconvulsive therapy, self-administering
the shocks using an electrified cattle fence. A woman nearly poisons
herself by drinking excessive amounts of orange juice on a fad diet. A
salesman faces kidney failure after spending too much time in his
cramped subcompact. These stories are not for the faint of heart!