A 17-year-old boy has been left in a wheelchair being fed through a tube after vaping last summer, a doctor has revealed. A senior hospital consultant has told the boy's story as a warning to other teens thinking of using e-cigarettes.
The boy, once a former sportsman, suffered multiple organ failure and was on a ventilator until a few weeks ago. Dr Elizabeth Garthwaite, clinical director for medical specialities with Leeds Teaching Hospitals, told teenagers at Ripon Grammar School that she is among many medical professionals increasingly concerned about the impact of vaping.
Dr Garthwaite said: “We are seeing increasing numbers of young people presenting to hospital with problems associated with addiction, but also medical problems which are associated with vaping."
