Diaper burn: Accident, abuse, or neglect

A 7-year-old, female with mental retardation and seizure disorder was admit ted with burns, Reportedly, her brother who was 12 years old was cooking di nner for himself, A towel caught fire. He threw the towel over his head, an d the patient's diaper ignited. She had partial thickness second-degree bur ns over her right elbow, upper abdomen, both inner thighs, and buttocks wit h multiple blistering, which was estimated to be 7% of the total body surfa ce. The child abuse team took a diaper similar to the one the child was wea ring at the time of injury and found that it easily ignited and melted in s everal seconds. This is the first medically reported burn case due to a dis posable diaper.