Latest craze "The Fainting Game"

TWO teenagers were taken to hospital this week after playing what's dubbed "The Fainting Game", prompting doctors to warn participants they risk permanent brain damage and possibly death.

The boys, aged 14 and 15, from different high schools, were taken to Bundaberg Hospital emergency department on consecutive days after passing out and falling over during school hours.

One hit the back of his head and the other broke his nose. Both were treated and allowed to go home the same day without suffering long-term harm.

Hospital staff became concerned when the teenagers told them they had been playing "The Fainting Game" – deliberately making themselves pass out – resulting in their injuries.

Brisbane general practitioner Richard Kidd said the teenagers were lucky to escape with relatively minor complaints.

"There's the obvious danger that if somebody suddenly becomes unconscious and falls down, they're going to get traumatic injuries from whatever they hit on the way down," Dr Kidd said.

"And if you've got a kid who's got some sort of heart condition that's undiagnosed, it's a fairly stressful thing to do to your cardiac system, so it's also possible that a kid could have a cardiac event or death that way."

Dr Kidd, the Australian Medical Association's Queensland branch GP spokesman, said permanent brain damage also was a risk.

"When a person's unconscious, if the head and neck are tilted forward and the tongue is obstructing the airways, they will continue to not get oxygen to the brain and you'll have a significant . . . brain injury," he said. "Depending on how long they go without oxygen, it could be very, very severe."

Queensland Ambulance Service Wide Bay Burnett region area director Roger Williams said he believed the incidents were isolated cases but paramedics were monitoring the situation.

"One of the most tragic situations a paramedic can be confronted with is when a silly stunt like this has gone incredibly wrong," Mr Williams said.