Docs Pull Needles From Near Toddler's Lung, Heart

Dec. 18, 2009— -- Surgeons have removed the four most life-threatening sewing needles from a 2-year-old Brazilian boy who had 42 needles lodged in his body.

The boy was in stable condition following nearly three hours of surgery to remove the needles from inside his lung and close to his heart, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman at Ana Neri Hospital in Salvador, Brazil, where the boy is being treated, according to The Associated Press.

"He's OK, the surgery was a success, he's doing fine," Moreno told the AP in a telephone interview.

Doctors will evaluate the boy's progress before additional surgeries to remove the remaining needles, Moreno said, according to the AP.

The boy reportedly suffered a high fever Thursday, and doctors feared that he could have had a life-threatening hemorrhage.

Roberto Carlos Magalhães, the boy's stepfather, has confessed to torturing the toddler, a police official told reporters Thursday.

The child's identity has not been released because of his age.

Doctors originally believed that the boy, of the Brazilian state of Bahia, had up to 50 needles -- some as long as two inches -- lodged in his body.

Earlier this week, the boy had been receiving care at the Hospital do Oeste in Barreiras, Brazil, but he was airlifted to Ana Neri Hospital to get the surgery necessary to remove the needles, according to the AP. The boy was in intensive care but was in stable condition at the time of the 240-mile trip to Salvador.

Surgery could continue to be a dicey endeavor. Dr. Luiz Cesar Soltoski at the Hospital do Oeste, who had been treating the boy, told reporters that he believed some of the needles would have to stay inside the boy's body because they are close to his liver, making their removal too dangerous. X-rays revealed that several of the other needles were also lodged near vital organs.

Meanwhile, a police official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that 33-year-old Magalhaes has confessed to embedding the needles in the child.

Magalhaes on Wednesday had claimed innocence in the boy's injuries, but now police said that he committed the act with the assistance of a female acquaintance.

The official said that police are now investigating whether the incident was associated with a black magic ritual.