Relatives told KCBD that the accident was caused either when she plugged in her phone while in the bathtub or grabbing the phone as it was being charged.
25 Comments on Teen dies from using cellphone while taking a bath
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The spirit of Darwin amusing himself once again. Suprised she wasn’t using her toaster.
Poor kid. If it’s anything plugged into a wall, it’s deadly near water. The battery itself won’t have that kind of power.
I am no electrician. But she somehow managed to get the full 110V blast.
The charger should only be around 5V and the battery itself around 1600 mAh, like a weak single AA battery.
A nice hot bath and her beloved phone.
Sad.
It’s like being killed by The Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man.
Too easy to make fun of a tragedy – but people today are so hooked on those cell phones. I think they are a necessary evil to avoid. Statistics say 50% of all households have cells rather than landlines.
Condolances to the family and RIP Madison.
While being plugged into (I presume a converter) to trickle charge a cell phone I’m surprised that a full charge can access and travel along the converter, the liteweight physical line and through the phone without burning out a component somewhere along that line and lasting long enough to kill this kid. It would be interesting to know just how she physically accessed the device just before she completed the circuit.
We really need to get off this phone obsession; use only as needed. People are addicted to the point of separation anxiety when they can’t locate the damn thing.
To include this tragic example, other dangers are many – at a time when situational awareness is more imperative than ever, phone addicts are entirely unaware of their surroundings. Shouldn’t they be looking for the guy with the gun, knife, or killing with a truck?
I am in the USMC gym regularly and it amazes me that, rather than keeping an eye on the entrances / exits (for the Muslim gone radical), they are locked on the phone. These are our Marines!!! Leave the fucking phone in the car!! Situational awareness at all times!!
Stop with the Darwin bullshit, she was only 14 and probably not aware of the dangers from such a seemingly innocuous device she used every day. My heartfelt sympathies go out to this family over this tragic loss.
FYI, it doesn’t take much current to effect the heart and kill, anywhere from .07 to .1 amps will do it. It is the current mixed with the water (conductor) that was the most likely cause.
I’m warning my kids right now.
Not seeing a GFCI.
Don’t encourage charging a cell phone in the bathroom or kitchen or laundry room.
Anywhere there is water.
What kind of shotgun shack has an outlet that close to the bathtub?
Gunny, that’s part of the problem: at 14, EVERY kid should be aware of the basic dangers in home life…fire, electricity, sharp objects. It’s hard to imagine people out there don’t learn stuff this basic young enough but, these days, modern = stupid.
That’s grim. 14 is too young to check out. I feel bad for her family and friends.
I’m going with there was no GFCI and she was using an extension cord.
Putting “The rest of the story…” out there will mess up the law suit.
At the age of 4 I stuck a balloon holder into an outlet, in Germany, 220 volts.
It was twisted into a fork to hold 2 balloons, fit exactly into the outlet.
Not many people remember stuff from when they were 4, I remember that.
Only reason I didn’t die was probably due to being on a bed.
I am not afraid of electricity, made a lot of money working with it, just respect it.
Sadly, I got no super powers from the experience.
Remember it’s not the voltage that kills you it’s E = IxR Given an output voltage (E) of about 5 volts.
In this case I = E/R (because it’s the current flow (the Amperage)that kills you not the voltage. Since a wet body in water has a resistance of about 1 ohm (about as low as you can get) the formula is I = 5/1 = 5 amps. She may as well have stuck her finger directly into the circuit breaker panel.
Big story today is shortage of marijuana in Vegas when they should be warning kids about this. Not even a banner. Everyday they are trying to scare everybody about what’s in their food or water or air. But a real danger is ignored.
This is tragic. I’ve grown petty hard but some people here are heartless.
The phone charges at 5 volts D.C.
There is a electronic circuit built
into the wall outlet that takes 120 volts A.C.
and converts/regulates it to 5 VDC.If there
is a component failure in the regulator it is
quite possible 120 VAC was sent down the charging
cable and into the phone…
Name brand chargers have an isolated switch mode power supplies. All of the knock offs and onehunglow brands are coupled directly to the mains. Toss them in the trash.
I seem to recall a woman dying from a shock from an electronic door lock.
How?
Could be a weak heart?
Unfortunately, in this instance, she downloaded the Grim Reaper App.
Something not right about this. A GFCI or Arc Detector should have stopped the current fast enough. Unless Dad put a non-compliant outlet it the bathroom (to get that USB charger).
Otherwise, somebody did her wrong.
Just in case. Don’t use a toaster in the bathtub either.
Damn and I just bought a scuba app for my phone.
I’m not an electrician either but was curious about USB gadget chargers and did a little reading. The USB spec has two types. The dumb one is, as others have mentioned, 5V and can deliver a current up to 1.5A. But a lot of newer smart phones and similar gadgetry use the second type of charging and the chargEE talks to the chargER and they negotiate voltage and current. With this setup, we’re talking up to 20V and 5A. That’s a whole lot more than most people, including me, would assume.
As for the ground fault outlet, it was the charger output that killed that poor girl, not wall receptacle output. She may well have received the shock without a ground fault interrupt being detected by a properly installed breaker. But, to repeat, I’m not an electrician.
HELLO! This is a great way to clean out the STUPID gene pool.
It’s dumb to be glued to your smart phone.
OTOH people keep leaving children and pets in a hot car to die.
She was a product of her parent’s stupidity. That is sad, but that is the truth.
Perhaps there was never a true “ground fault” that would trigger the GFCI?
A ground fault circuit interrupter works by sensing via Hall Effect a current imbalance.
If the current is dissipating to ground or uncommon path instead of returning through the neutral branch, then the GFCI will open circuit.
She was a low resistance path and all current passed through her, back through the GFCI.
The GFCI though she was a space heater.
Ser