Teenage boy swallowed 21 birth control pills

His mother had brought home some pills to treat the boy's sore throat, but placed them next to her birth control pills. The apparently reckless boy ingested all 21 birth control pills, and the mother only discovered this four hours later. She rushed the boy to the Ninh Giang District medical center, according to media reports.

The reports did not mention why the boy had bothered to swallow 21 pills at a time.

Doctor Phan Huy Mai of the center said Friday that the boy was hospitalized with no abnormal symptoms. The drug was flushed out of his stomach and he was discharged. He was only monitored to look for any signs of poisoning, Mai said.

Mai said it was the first time that the center received a male patient who'd mistakenly ingested birth control pills. Birth control pills only have effects on women, and so they should not be harmful to males if ingested accidentally, he added.