Posted on 03/10/2009 5:05:23 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
EL PASO, Texas — Sixteen patients exposed to a mismanaged insulin needle program have tested positive for hepatitis C, Army officials said Tuesday.
The William Beaumont Army Medical Center patients were among more than 2,000 diabetics who may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses between August 2007 and January 2009 because of the program that systematically gave multiple patients injections from the same insulin pen.
Lt. Col. Sandy LaFon, the hospital's chief of preventive medicine, said it's unclear if the infections came from the improper insulin injections or were previously undiagnosed infections. Either way, the 16 patients are being treated and their blood is being tested to try to determine how they contracted the virus.
LaFon said the hospital is launching an epidemiological study to try to match the types of hepatitis C found among the 16 patients to those of 39 other patients who had been diagnosed with hepatitis C before being treated for diabetes at the Army hospital.
But because not all of the patients who may have been affected have been screened, hospital officials may never know just how many people have become ill from being treated at the hospital, LaFon said.
Regardless, she added, anyone newly diagnosed will be treated with all of the costs paid for by the Army hospital.
Intitially, hepatitis C can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and jaundice. But long term effects include liver damage.
The scare is related to the use of an insulin pen system meant to allow a patient to use the same pen several times. But the pens were inadvertently used multiple times on different patients.
Although a new sterile needle was used for every injection, health officials said the pens contain a reservoir of insulin and blood could be transmitted from the needle to the remaining insulin.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
dang. was this government medicine?
“...pens were inadvertently used multiple times on different patients. ..”
inexcusable...
I’ll ask first....should we blame obama?
William Beaumont Army Medical Center serving El Paso and Fort Bliss, Texas.
Our Mission
Deliver comprehensive, high quality healthcare and preventive services to the Warriors in Transition, Soldiers, Family Members and Patients entrusted to us.
Ensure medical readiness of all Soldiers assigned and deployed at Fort Bliss/WSMR and deliver highly skilled Warrior Medics to the force.
some nurse messed up the needle thing huh?
Why in the world would they be using pens when in a hospital situation when a bottle of insulin could be used by many with zero chance of containation as long as a sterile syringe was used each time? Pens are more expensive even though very convient but there is a lot of waste where with bottles there is not.
NO they used a new needle but when using an insulin pen the pen should never be shared. They are different than a bottle of insulin.
Hep C. Well that’s a death sentence. Hope they find out who’s responsible and give them a jab for all the lives they’ve shortened.
“...it’s possible that more patients will eventually test positive for hepatitis C or other illnesses, including hepatitis B or HIV — five affected patients had previously been diagnosed as HIV positive and four others knew they had hepatitis B.”
Not to mention the chances of them contracting Hep. C from visiting “Boys Town” across the boarder and engaging in the prominent vices there.
All 2000 diabetic patients need to be screened and then determine if any match the known hepatitis C patients. They also should be screened for hepatitis B, HIV, and other illnesses like, STD, Chagas, West Nile, leukemia...???
Prayers up!
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