A 12 year old Sunbury, Australia, girl faces an anxious wait after falling onto a discarded needle.

The girl slipped and fell playing in a park near Gibbons St Sunbury, cutting her arm on the hidden needle. She did not tell parents until later, when the arm became sore and swollen and they got medical help.

“I remember running towards the slide when I slipped and fell, landing on my left arm,” she said.

“I felt a sharp pain … and saw the needle, which I picked up and put in the bin.

“I wasn’t very happy about it at the time but I was too scared to tell my parents in case they blamed me.”

Her angry father has hit out at whoever discarded the needle, labelling it “irresponsible and dangerous”.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north/agonising-wait-for-12-year-old-sunbury-girl-after-she-fell-on-a-discarded-needle/story-fnglenug-1226605528310

Understandably, this is the cause for great distress, for the child and her parents and family. Not just today, but for the many months of follow-up that will follow, and possibly beyond. The impact is profound, and we wish them well.

Regrettably, stories like this are not uncommon. They serve to highlight the considerable risks from discarded needles, that seem far more common in recreational areas than elsewhere.