Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A 24-year-old Texas man died of a massive stroke after an electric cigarette pen exploded in his face, severing his carotid artery.
William Brown was out front of a store that sells vape pens in Fort Worth Jan. 27 when the device he was using exploded, KTVT reported.
Smoke and Vape DZ's manager told KTVT that Brown didn't buy anything from the store but asked for help using a specific modified vape pen. He said the store did not sell that particular product because of its reputation for having issues.
Brown's grandmother, Alice Brown, said he was cut along his lip and a piece of the device shot into his throat.
He was rushed by ambulance to a JPS Health Network hospital in Fort Worth where he was x-rayed and put in a medically induced coma.
But he was never operated on, KTVT reported.
Steve Brown, William Brown's father, said Doctors told the family that William needed surgery to remove the piece of the pen in his neck but that it wasn't urgent so it would have to wait a day or two, the Washington Post reported.
Brown was found dead Jan. 29 by hospital staff facedown on the floor as the result of a massive stroke.
"He had a future ahead of him, a life ahead of him," his grandmother said.
She said she doesn't understand why the hospital didn't operate.
The JPS Health Network said it is prevented from discussing the case due to privacy laws, but it did release a statement.
"We hold ourselves to the highest standards in providing high-quality healthcare and will take family concerns seriously as we review all that transpired," the medical provider.
This is the second death within the last twelve months as a result of an exploding electronic cigarette.
In May, a 38-year-old Florida man was killed when his vape pen exploded, ejecting shrapnel into his face.
From 2017 to 2017, vape pen explosions resulted in over 2,000 injuries, according to a study the Tobacco Control study.
