Purim costume gone wrong: Boy dresses up as charity box, swallows 'donations'

A Purim story that could have ended in tragedy.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: MARCH 22, 2016 19:32
Israeli New Shekel. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Israeli New Shekel.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A five-year-old boy from Jerusalem took his Purim costume a little too seriously this year when, dressed up as a charity box, he decided to swallow coins, Channel Two reported Tuesday.
Upon noticing that the young boy was in distress, a teacher tapped him on his back, causing one of the swallowed coins to shoot out of his mouth. The boy, apparently, swallowed the coins from the charity-box he was carrying as part of his costume.
The boy suffered a coughing attack, and then began to throw up. He was then escorted to a Jerusalem hospital where, following an x-ray, doctors discovered another coin trapped in his lungs.
Due to the sensitive location of the trapped coin, he was taken into emergency surgery.
Doctor David Zlotnik, head of the emergency room to which the boy was evacuated, said that "should the boy not have made it to the hospital on time, this story could have ended with a tragedy."