If you tattoo, it's on you (Kid dies from tattoo)

Modesto Bee ^ | 8-28-03 | Mareva Brown

[hoosierskypilot]

The death of a university student who contracted a fatal heart infection after having a swirling tribal tattoo pricked into his forearm this summer, has revealed a gaping hole in California's regulation of tattoo and piercing parlors. Despite passage in 1997 of a law designed to ensure cleanliness and safety, the state Department of Health Services has never drawn up regulations for oversight, leaving the body art industry less regulated than other cosmetic professions that involve noninvasive procedures.

[thegreatbeast]

This can not be pinned on the tattooist. They expect the tattoist to ask if you have a heart murmur?
Nanny culture.

[BostonianRightist]

we dont need regulations for tattooes, we need common sense. A guy on the corner of the street with track marks and glazed eyes, is not going to give you a safe tattoo.

[OXENinFLA]

If I can't see the tat artist AUTO-CLAVE, he's not sticking me.

[Agnes Heep]

I can't conceive of anything more savage than permanently defacing your body for the sake of "ornament." Caveat emptor.

[EggsAckley]

I'm with you, Agnes. This kid apparently had a multitude of tattoos, and his Dad saw nothing strange about that. But now he's mad as hell at the "artists" and the state for not controlling this bogus "industry."

[TomB]

This can not be pinned on the tattooist. They expect the tattoist to ask if you have a heart murmur?

If you are going to be sticking someone with a needle, it is incumbent on you to ask the customer if they have a heart murmur. SBE (subacute bacterial endocarditis) is a rare problem, but one that is easily prevented.

[AnAmericanMother]

Precisely. If you've got a heart murmur and you know you have to take antibiotics whenever you get your TEETH CLEANED, for heaven's sake you should be able to figure out that any time you have a chance of getting crud in the ol' bloodstream you need to take them. Better yet, if you're a high risk candidate, don't get tattooed. (duh!)

[TomB]

If I can't see the tat artist AUTO-CLAVE, he's not sticking me.

The problem is not sterile instruments, it is introducing bacteria from the skin into the bloodstream.

[Cogadh na Sith]

And apparently, it did not occur to Rachesky that a heart murmur that required him to take an antibiotic each time he had his teeth cleaned might pose a unique infection problem when getting a tattoo.

"It wasn't until my son died that I thought, 'Where do these guys get training?'" he said. "These people are injecting things into people's bodies."

Dude, your son died because he was stupid. Don't pester everyone else. It's his fault. Damned concerned ninnies...

[rolling_stone]

If I can't see the tat artist AUTO-CLAVE, he's not sticking me.

If I am semi-conscious he's not sticking me...

[Cogadh na Sith]

I can't conceive of anything more savage than permanently defacing your body for the sake of "ornament."

Exactly! That's why I have 3...

Tattoos aren't permanent, y'know. They only last as long as the owner--and that is a very, very short time indeed.

[JoeSixPack1]

[ChewedGum]

Precisely. If you've got a heart murmur and you know you have to take antibiotics whenever you get your TEETH CLEANED, for heaven's sake you should be able to figure out that any time you have a chance of getting crud in the ol' bloodstream you need to take them. Better yet, if you're a high risk candidate, don't get tattooed. (duh!)

Absolutely. Someone said Nanny Culture...so true (and so sad).

Gum

[MotleyGirl70]

LOL! Where do you find this stuff?

[boxerblues]

Tattoos can be tastefully done or they can be down right disgusting. I have 2 of them but get gross out when I see them on faces or necks. My son wants one on his back when he comes back from Iraq to say "Dirty White Boy"

[4mycountry]

The death of a university student who contracted a fatal heart infection after having a swirling tribal tattoo pricked into his forearm this summer

He must not have been a

[MotleyGirl70]

I have 2 of them but get gross out when I see them on faces or necks.

You mean like this?

[4mycountry]

ROTFLOL!! Too good!

[boxerblues]

LMAO thats it...I guess you could say he has a hole in his head for all the piercing but thats obvious