Pediatric hemaologist-oncologist Sam Blackman almost didn't bother to read the British Medical Journal's Archives of Disease in Childhood when it popped up in his inbox, but something caught his eye. That something is a little case report called "Superhero-related injuries in paediatrics: A case series" (pdf), and it is one funny little case report indeed. It offers a brief overview of a case wherein a six-year-old boy in costume mistook himself for the real Spiderman and jumped out of a window, and references several other cases (three more Spidermen and a Superman) where other little boys met similar fates. All the children ended up with fairly minor injuries and a valuable lesson about reality.
The article is hilariously funny in a way that Americans almost never are and American pediatricians probably never will be: the authors note that their not-so-superheroes have all been boys, and that they have never been called to treat a "My Little Pony-related injury". And that most valuable and useful chestnut of parental advice rears its head here: just watch your freaking kids, people. It's the most effective thing you can do to keep them safe (and if they're particularly Spiderman-obsessed, keep the windows locked).
Dr. Blackman blogged about it himself, and makes a bummer of a point: if a rash of little boys thinking they can jump out of windows spreads across the USA, we can expect to see warnings plastered all over Halloween costumes this fall.
