Teen got electrocuted and died for using her phone in the shower while charging it...

[| Rembo |]

btw electrocuted means you died from an electric shock so saying she got electrocuted and died is like saying she died and then died

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Jesus Christ...

 

I swear to god people these days are so (I don't know what would be the right word for this) fallible (especially Americans) to even the most basic of things, like electricity can kill you if you're not careful, or texting while driving is fatal, or driving while under the influence is dangerous.

 

Or maybe this: Water CAN conduct electricity.

 

      

Edited July 12, 2017 by JurunceNK

[dexT]

[Beskamir]

Always good to know natural selection is still kicking.

[TetraSky]

Welp... RIP.

 

I'm expecting this kind of thing to happen more and more, what with high end phones being waterproof and all.

All in all, natural selection doing a fine job once again. 

I blame the parents for not drilling in her head that electricity + water = BAD.

[themctipers]

someone who I was friends with was using their phone in the shower while charging it

 

^{lowkey wish he died}

[Crossbred]

My question is why the outlet was near a shower/bath. I have never seen one in a bathroom except above a vanity on the opposite side.

[Jito463]

I'm very saddened and disheartened by the lack of empathy shown by some members of this forum.  Yes, she made a foolish mistake, and she paid for that foolishness with her life.  However, some of the comments on this thread were highly disturbing to read.

 

"Darwin award"

"Natural selection"
"How shocking"

 

A child has died, a family is grieving, and you think it's a joke.  No, this story is not related to me in any way, I just can't understand the mentality of those who would make light of such a situation.  Imagine if this were your daughter, sister, niece or best friend.  Would you be making such jokes?  I sincerely hope not.

[JuNex03]

Sad. Here's to hoping the Parent's are not stupid (intelligent?) enough to sue the electricians who worked on their house or, if they bought their house, the real estate agent, or the phone maker.

[JuNex03]

4 hours ago, | Rembo | said:

btw electrocuted means you died from an electric shock so saying she got electrocuted and died is like saying she died and then died

But but but... People die when they are killed.

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

19 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

I'm very saddened and disheartened by the lack of empathy shown by some members of this forum.  Yes, she made a foolish mistake, and she paid for that foolishness with her life.  However, some of the comments on this thread were highly disturbing to read.

 

"Darwin award"

"Natural selection"
"How shocking"

 

A child has died, a family is grieving, and you think it's a joke.  No, this story is not related to me in any way, I just can't understand the mentality of those who would make light of such a situation.  Imagine if this were your daughter, sister, niece or best friend.  Would you be making such jokes?  I sincerely hope not.

Be very careful with that statement; you risk getting lynched by the keyboard lawyers and sociologists for being an extremist "social justice warrior".

[BuckGup]

The bigger question is why doesn't she have safety fuses in a bathroom socket

[Jito463]

3 minutes ago, Colonel_Gerdauf said:

Be very careful with that statement; you risk getting lynched by the keyboard lawyers and sociologists for being an extremist "social justice warrior".

Thanks for the warning.  However, one doesn't have to be an "SJW" to have empathy.  In fact, I'd argue just the opposite, that an SJW has no empathy.  They simply latch onto any incident and use it to further their own cause.  What I posted wasn't intended to further a cause, just to make people stop and think.

[Tech_Dreamer]

[ionbasa]

12 hours ago, goodtofufriday said:

This seems more like a perfect storm of 3 items.

 

1: The girl was not informed enough to know not to use a phone while its charging in water.

 

2. A fast charger must have been used. Your typical charger is 5v 1A, which will hurt a lot but is unlikely to kill you, even when wet.

 

3. The outlets were not gfci. The power would have cut immediately to the outlet. Where I live every outlet within a certain distance from water is required to be this sort of outlet.

One important thing you missed:

There was an electrical extension cord her charger was plugged into. I'm a bit sceptical about the Dc voltage electrocuting her at 5v1A. Even if the outlets were not CGFI, the breaker may have been (or may not have been), either way, that's against electrical code to not have GFCI  protection in wet areas. If the breaker or outlet was CGFI, it would have tripped at less than 10mA (milliamps) residual current.

 

To put things into perspective, NEMA publishes data on harmful current levels. 50mA to 4 Amps is enough to cause heart fibrillation/palpitations/murmurs. 4+ amps can cause tissue failure and will stop your heart from beating (muscle paralysis). 

 

Back on topic: The charger/extension probably got wet and she got shocked by 120v AC. 5V1A is questionable in terms of electrocutions, but not entirely out of question. Also, the current would have had gone through her chest area across her heart. In normal shocks, the current will complete down the side of your body: Eg left hand touches wire, current travels down left side of torso to ground. With this story it seems she probably completed the circuit with both her hands, thus current traveled through her chest (and across her heart). They also found burn marks on her hand. Secondly, DC doesn't usually complete circuit back to earth ground since usb charges (and DC current sources) tend to have 'floating ground', meaning the common terminal (DC -) is not physically connected to earth ground. Lastly, it's fairly difficult to get shocked by DC at below 12v, skin resistance is somewhere ~10KOhm, even with wet skin, you'd probably be safe.

 

TLDR: Phone charger was plugged into 120v AC extension cord. Burn marks on hand. She probably accidentally touched the AC cord with wet hands/or it had water on it. Probably completed circuit with AC 120v 15+amps. GFCI could have saved her, it's required by code.

[Monte_Carlo]

4 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

 

TLDR: Phone charger was plugged into 120v AC extension cord. Burn marks on hand. She probably accidentally touched the AC cord with wet hands/or it had water on it. Probably completed circuit with AC 120v 15+amps. GFCI could have saved her, it's required by code.

 

Unless the house is older than a certain age?  I understand that GFCI outlets were mandated over a number of years, and bathrooms were mandated by 1975...  (Feel free to correct me.)

 

Either way.  Regardless of safety tech around.  Keep electronics dry and away from water.  Just as with texting and driving, bathing and texting can wait.  

[MimigaKing]

12 hours ago, Tibbles said:

the bathrooms in my home don't have any outlets in them.

I have the same problem, no outlets in my bathroom. 

 

And that's why I've got an extension cord going from my bedroom to my bathroom.

[Soonercoop]

12 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

She must have been shocked to find out you can't plug your phone into the wall and take it into the shower. People this stupid deserve to be charged with something.

How's death for a charge?

[NumLock21]

Here is a news article on it.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4690766/Tearful-father-stepmom-warn-electronics-bathroom.html

 

edit:
 

Quote

 

• The family told how in the early hours of Sunday morning, Madison's Samsung Edge Plus fell into the bathtub. 
• 'It's not uncommon for her to spend two hours to two-and-a-half hours in the bathtub,' Felisha Owens, Madison's step-mom said. 
• 'She had her phone plugged into the extension cord and it was by the bathtub and I did it, she did it, we all had sat there in the bathtub with our phones plugged in and played our games,' she explained tearfully.
• The phone plunged into the water while it was still being charged, electrocuting the girl instantly. 

 

 

[ionbasa]

39 minutes ago, Monte_Carlo said:

 

Unless the house is older than a certain age?  I understand that GFCI outlets were mandated over a number of years, and bathrooms were mandated by 1975...  (Feel free to correct me.)

 

Either way.  Regardless of safety tech around.  Keep electronics dry and away from water.  Just as with texting and driving, bathing and texting can wait.  

Yes. Although, if a house get's resold, that should have been something a building safety inspector should have caught and might have been able to enforce*.

 

*Note: That depends on the city or county. Some cities require that homes be up to code before they pass their safety inspection.

[Notional]

 

Also reminds me of this Indian genius, who thought he was so cool being the first one, ON the train (warning: NSFL):

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Techstorm970]

I know this is tragic and all cuz she died, but...

...anybody with any brains at all knows that electricity and water are a bad combination.  

 

Welp, that's natural selection for you, folks!  

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, techstorm970 said:

I know this is tragic and all cuz she died, but...

...anybody with any brains at all knows that electricity and water are a bad combination.  

 

Welp, that's natural selection for you, folks!  

parents fault cause they do it too, so their kids do it as well.

 

[Guest lilbman]

Two words: natural selection.

 

Nature at its finest.

[23ek1jelkejd10dsslk14]

Well it's sad cause she was just a kid, and kids do not quite do everything with 100% of logic, no matter what parents told them what they should or shouldn't do.

 

Rest alone proper house safety measures