Quote:
A jury has decided that a Syracuse doctor isn't to blame for an operating-room mishap that caused a pregnant woman to catch fire during a cesarean section delivery.
Kira Reed suffered a 7-inch-long burn on her side two years ago when an alcohol-based antiseptic applied to her skin was accidentally ignited by a medical device. The fire was out quickly and her baby was fine, but she sued over the injury.
Yet McDonalds was sued for a fortune when some old womans leathery crotch was burned by a cup of hot coffee a few years ago! Go figure!
In other news...apparently you can catch fire during a C section. Who knew?
I call BS on both lawsuits.
Alcohol fire on skin is fairly benign. The alcohol burns above the surface of the skin and the heat rises. Fire eaters rely heavily on this particular aspect of physics. Slather your palm with antiseptic alcohol, light it up - it looks knarly and your hand gets warm, but that's it. If it's a thin layer it exhausts itself before the combustion layer radiant transfer can do more than warm the skin, if there's a pool it acts as additional buffer - other dangers there. (flinging on hair, drapes, etc porous materials) The article mentions on her sides, and that's to be expected as then the heat is rising parallel to the skin and it is heated more. Get a first degree burn easily this way, not much more unless the nurses were enjoying the show.