A mental hospital worker has admitted to giving four nails to a patient and getting her to swallow them.
Athena Marie Sidlar, a former psychiatric aide trainee at Allentown State Hospital, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment this week in Lehigh County Court, according to The Morning Call.
In January, Sidlar showed an 18-year-old female patient how to swallow nails. The four nails had to be removed from the patient's stomach.
Sidlar, 28, says she has bipolar disorder and swallows nails and other metal objects. Her attorney, Ettore Angelo of Quakertown, said his client is trying to battle her affliction.
''She's courageously battling an affliction thank God that neither you nor I have,'' Angelo told a reporter Thursday. ''It's a sad thing. It's not a crazy young person trick.''
Sidlar will be sentenced in October.
