Some of you may remember a couple of posts from last year (here and here, with a follow-up here) about a woman who sued her ear-candler for allegedly injuring her during an ear-candling, ear-candling being a procedure where somebody sticks a burning candle in your ear. I later turned those posts into an article for the ABA Section of Litigation, which published the article last month. See "Fire in the Hole!," ABA Section of Litigation—Products Liability (June 17, 2012) (about halfway down the page).

While I very much appreciate them posting it, the formatting there leaves something to be desired, so I'm reposting it here for those who may be interested. And since it's about 1800 words long, I'm posting a PDF copy rather than making it an enormous post, or "enormopost," a word I just made up.

One thing I did not make up, though, is the title "Fire in the Hole!" for an article about ear-candling. I think I got that from this 2008 MSNBC article by Linda Dahlstrom, so credit goes to her or her editor for that idea.

If you just don't have time to read a four-page article, here's the main takeaway point from the conclusion: Never stick a novelty item in your ear, especially if it's on fire.