Audio Video News

This story would be hilarious if it weren't for the pain and suffering inflicted on a hapless jogger toting an iPod. Caught in a thunderstorm, the Vancouver resident was struck by lightning and sustained serious injuries when the iPod and its cables conducted current into his body.

The lightning hit his chest, then traveled through the earbuds directly into his ears. Doctors say the metal parts of the earbuds combined with the man's sweat helped to conduct the deadly current. As a result, the eardrums were ruptured, the bones of the middle ear were dislocated, and the jaw was both dislocated and broken in four places. Since the 2005 incident, the patient has lost more than half his hearing, including all of his high-frequency hearing.

His doctors, in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, advise people caught in thunderstorms to remove their earbuds and keep their iPods out of contact with their skin. Better yet, if the weather is going to be nasty, just leave the thing at home.