An unusual domestic accident: a penetrating abdominal wound with intestinal evisceration in a child

We report a penetrating abdominal injury due to a piece of glass, a very unusual domestic accident, in a 2-year-old boy who was admitted to the emergency department with an evisceration through the umbilicus. His mother reported that she was asleep when the boy came to her room, and did not know how it had happened. We primarily suspected child abuse, but the presence of a piece of glass in the boy's heel led us to think of a domestic accident. He had poured himself a glass of water, and then fell on the glass. We could not find a similar case in the literature on domestic accidents. Accepted: 25 June 1997