DAVENPORT - Sarah Ockerman got her tongue pierced Wednesday night in downtown Davenport.

Today, her parents hope she'll soon be released from the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

The 16-year-old, who will be a junior this fall at North Scott High School, went to get the webbing under her tongue pierced at Permanent Inc., 214 W. 4th St., with her friend, Claire Gottschalk, 15.

Their parents did not know. They did not need to know, according to Iowa law. There is no regulation of the piercing industry in Iowa.

Sarah's parents, Ken and Sally Ockerman of Eldridge, Iowa, say that needs to change.

"She could have died … just for a piercing, she could have died," said Sally Ockerman, who is a nurse in the same medical center where Sarah is now a patient - Genesis Medical Center, West Central Park, Davenport.

Sarah and Claire told their parents they were going to the mall Wednesday night. They did. Then they headed to downtown Davenport to Permanent Inc., which is next door to City Hall. They paid $20 for Claire's tongue piercing and $30 for Sarah's under-the-tongue piercing. They chose the place, Claire said, because it was less expensive than others.

The piercing hurt more than Sarah anticipated. The teens stopped at another tattoo and piercing studio on the way home to find out if that was normal. An employee at that place told them to go to the hospital.

Sarah didn't want to get into trouble. The two went to Claire's house.

Then Sarah started having trouble breathing. Even though Sarah did not want them to, Claire and her sister woke up Claire's mom, who took Sarah home. Sarah's mom took her to the emergency room.

They put a tube down Sarah's swollen throat so she could breathe. They gave her medications to curb the reaction. They removed the piercing.

Sarah still has that tube down her throat. She has a host of medications and machines helping her get better. She communicates by writing on paper. Her parents hope she will be out of intensive care soon and hopefully out of the hospital within a couple of days.

Meanwhile, her parents want other parents to know that there are no regulations regarding piercing in Iowa.

Proposed legislation to do so has faltered over the past several years in the Iowa legislature. In Illinois, people under the age of 18 must have parental permission to get a body piercing.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, which regulates everything from tattooing to beauty shops, is supportive of rules for piercing.

"We believe it's a public health issue," said Carmily Stone, bureau chief for environmental health services. The department gets calls from parents asking what can be done. Most of the time, their child has already gotten a piercing.

The response? "There's nothing we can do because there are no regulations on that," Stone said. There are a couple of municipalities in Iowa that have passed their own ordinances, but that's it.

Permanent Inc. has been inspected by the Scott County Health Department for its tattooing operation. Its inspection in March revealed a couple of minor issues that were corrected, said Jackie Hall, a department spokeswoman.

She gets phone calls from parents about piercing, too.

"We encourage people who have concerns to contact their legislators," Hall said.

The person who pierced Sarah's tongue came to visit her in the hospital Friday. Joshua Meade has been piercing for three years. He's never seen anything like this happen to anyone else.

He asks his under-18 customers if their parents are OK with them getting a piercing, he said, adding that while he thinks someone who is 16 is old enough to make such a decision, they need to talk it over with their parents because of what happened in Sarah's case.

The law should require parental permission, he said.

"It's gravely important that teenagers speak with their parents and get their permission," Meade said. "It's something that needs to be done so that situations like this don't happen in the future. Parents are going to say no. You just really need to sit down and talk with them. Look at the pros, look at the cons. Have a conversation with them so if something like this happens, they know what to do."

He added: "We feel horrible about the situation."