On Friday night, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department and plastic surgery teams at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem treated a four-and-a-half-year-old boy who fell into a pot of boiling soup and was severely burned.

During Friday night Shabbat services in synagogue, soup was being distributed  to the congregation, when the preschooler  stumbled according to his mother, fell into the boiling cauldron.

“A  four-and-a-half- year-old boy was rushed to the Trauma Unit after suffering severe  deep burns when he fell into a pot of boiling soup,” said Dr. Stav Sarna Cahan, head of the Burns Unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

“He was taken straight to the trauma room and was immediately evaluated and examined by all the relevant departments of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department and the Burns Unit team of the Plastic Surgery Department.”

“The severe burns were assessed as second and third degree over  42% of the child’s. Given the extent of the burns, the child was taken urgently to the operating room, where he was sedated and ventilated and underwent a procedure for debriding the burns and dressing them.”

“He was later transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and as is standard in such severe burn cases, the team began fluid resuscitation,” Dr. Sarna Cahan said.

“As of today, his condition is stable and he is being treated, ventilated and sedated, by the experienced pediatric intensive care team and the multidisciplinary team of the Burns Unit in the Plastic Surgery Department.”

The boy’s mom remains by his bedside.

“We were together in synagogue, when my son approached the soup cauldron,” she recounts. “His older brother asked him to move away from it. He stepped back and without paying attention – in a matter of one second – he stumbled back and fell into the pot.”

The mother explained that it is a huge pot, enough for all the congregation.

“He managed to get out of the pot. Immediately responding to the event, the congregants poured water on the burns and called the ambulance. He was brought quickly to Hadassah Ein Kerem where he was treated by the excellent teams of the intensive care and Burns Unit. Everyone here is a true emissary of God.”

“I believe we will get through this and he will get better, God willing. But it is also very important to emphasize it was a split-second accident and not anyone’s fault.

“Of course, heightened vigilance is very important to prevent such cases, and if anyone pays more attention after reading this, we’ve done our part. Here in the Intensive Care Unit, the team is treating him with care and dedication, and our community is very helpful to us and surrounds us all the time with any need at home.”

Dr. Sarna Cahan delivers an important message to parents: “If such an event occurs, the emergency services should be called as quickly as possible in order to evacuate the victim for professional treatment in a burns unit like the one operating at Hadassah.”

“Water should not be poured over the body, but rather a clean towel should be placed over the burn.”