Teenage girl dies after inhaling helium at party

By jdegree
in Real World News

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jdegree

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EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) - Last weekend, 14-year-old Ashley Long told her parents she was going to a slumber party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Ore., where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana.

After drinking on the drive, and downing more drinks in the condo, it came time for Ashley to take her turn on a tank of helium that everyone else was inhaling to make their voices sound funny.

"That helium tank got going around," said Ashley's stepfather, Justin Earp, who learned what happened from talking to Ashley's friends at the party. "It got to my daughter. My daughter didn't want to do it. It was peer pressure. They put a mask up to her face. They said it would be OK. 'It's not gonna hurt you. It'll just make you laugh and talk funny.'"

Instead, she passed out and later died at a hospital, the result of an obstruction in a blood vessel caused by inhaling helium from a pressurized tank.

http://apnews.myway..../D9T2Q7M00.html

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Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

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Umm, yup. I got brought up being told that inhaling helium was not good for you. Obviously this is a rare occurrence, but it doesn't surprise me to hear about it.

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Southern Patriot

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if they put it to her face you would think this was a murder case?

Sounds more like a case of the parents saying "oh, my daughter wouldn't do that, she had to have been forced to do it". And as Rudy pointed out, it would still only be a manslaughter case, not murder. Murder requires intent to kill, not an accident as in this case.

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Astra.Xtreme

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Lulz, peer pressure != forced. It was still her own will.

Unless there was proof that they tied her down and held the mask on her face, this is closer to a suicide than a murder.

People just need to be more educated on the crap that shouldn't enter their body.

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Dick Montage

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There is NOTHING wrong with taking a whack of helium whatsoever. It's 100% safe.

Obviously, your oxygen intake is momentarily less, but negligably so.

However, inhaling it from a pressurised container in this manner is bloody stupid and moreover dangerous.

As to the claim of peer pressure - surely that's just conjecture? How does he know whether she wanted to do it or not?

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fusi0n

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There is NOTHING wrong with taking a whack of helium whatsoever. It's 100% safe.

Obviously, your oxygen intake is momentarily less, but negligably so.

However, inhaling it from a pressurised container in this manner is bloody stupid and moreover dangerous.

As to the claim of peer pressure - surely that's just conjecture? How does he know whether she wanted to do it or not?

I agree

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XerXis

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Umm, yup. I got brought up being told that inhaling helium was not good for you. Obviously this is a rare occurrence, but it doesn't surprise me to hear about it.

Helium in itself is harmless as it is inert, it won't bind with your hemoglobin. However breathing from a pressurized tank is one of the dumbest things to do. The same thing could have happened breathing a normal air mixture from a pressurized tank.

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Original Poster

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if they put it to her face you would think this was a murder case?

man slaughter at most, was an accident most people dont think pressurised gasses can kill via inhalation

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Yusuf M. Veteran

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It's extremely unfortunate that a lot of people don't know about the danger of inhaling gas from a high-pressure tank.

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shakey

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It's extremely unfortunate that a lot of people don't know about the danger of inhaling gas from a high-pressure tank.

Yuup. this. People think that it is safe, when there is no telling what it could actually cuase your body to do. Everyone reacts differently to fumes and gas, and more so depending on the state of your body.

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shakey

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So why didn't her "friends" fully step in and stop her from doing if they saw she was uncomfortable with it.

Who has a helium tank lying around anyway.

I do.... but it was given to me by a friend who owns a bar and he had it in his trunk. I've used it for my business for baloons and a few birthday parties. It's empty now :( but gave me good use. But ya.... other than my situation, not sure :p

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