Electric shock injuries from a domestic appliance

Case scenario

Beatrice, a 50-year-old woman, presented five days after she had received an electric shock. She had inserted a paper clip in beside a faulty oven button that would not stay depressed. The shock had initially jolted her backwards and she had experienced several hours of tingling in her right hand and aching pain in her right forearm. She had also developed an almost instantaneous headache but she had not lost consciousness or suffered any memory loss. Beatrice was concerned because her headache had persisted now for five days and she had also felt a bit ‘off balance’ since the shock. The day before she presented she had also had a brief episode of chest tightness and tingling in her left hand. She had previously been well.