Reusable Metal Straw Impales Woman’s Brain, Leads to Her Death

Metal straws are emerging as an alternative to plastic, but they need to be used with caution to avoid accidents.

Metal straws are emerging as an alternative to plastic, but they need to be used with caution to avoid freak accidents.

(Photo courtesy: Elena Struthers-Gardner/Altered by FIT)

In a freak accident, a 60-year-old woman in the UK died last year in November after she fell onto a metal straw and incurred serious brain injuries.

According to UK news site Daily Echo, Elena Struthers-Gardner was in her home in Broadstone, England, carrying a mason jar with a strew-top lid to fix the straw in place, when she collapsed onto the jar. The 10-inch-metal straw pierced through her left eye and went into her brain.

Doctors determined that the cause of her death was officially an accidental, traumatic brain injury reported Health.

Metal straws are on the road to becoming all the rage as they are re-usable and the environmentally friendly alternative to plastic straws.

Post the accident however, coroners are warning of caution while using them.

Old Riding Injury Caused Collapse that Killed Her

Struthers-Gardner endured the fatal injury at her home on 22 November 2018, and died the following day. However, the official cause of death has just been determined.

Elena Struthers-Gardner (right) and her wife Mandy Struthers-Gardner.(Photo courtesy: Elena Struthers-Gardner/ Facebook)

Her wife of four years, Mandy Struthers-Gardner, said that Struthers-Gardners, a retired jockey, had mobility issues from an old riding accident when she was 21 that left her with multiple fractures and scoliosis, reported Health.

She was prone to random collapses because of the years-old issue. Her wife is the one that found her on the floor post the metal straw accident.

Doctors decided that the severity of Struthers-Gardners injuries meant that it was unlikely that would survive and the family then decided to take her off life support.

Even if they don’t end a life, these straws can be very dangerous.

Mandy Struthers-Gardner concluded.

Post the accident, assistant coroner Brendan Allen told Daily Echo that, “great care” should be taken while using these types of straws as “there is no give in them at all.”