FDA: Injectable insulin pens not for use by more than one patient
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What part of the phrase ‘risk of spreading blood-borne disease’ did the staff of two Army hospitals not understand when they began, starting in 2007, using a new-generation ‘multidose insulin injection pen system’ to administer insulin to diabetics?
Sure, they got the idea that they should use a new needle each time they used the pens, as they moved from patient to patient. But, they missed -- or never got -- the message that moving from patient to patient using the same pen, equipped with the same cartridge, could spread blood-borne diseases, including hepatitis C and HIV.
And that’s unfortunate for 2,129 service personnel and their families at Ft. Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, and a small Army hospital at Fort Polk, La., who are now being urged to return for tests of blood-borne infection. Several have already tested positive for hepatitis C, the FDA reported, though it’s not clear whether the condition pre-dated their exposure to the injection pens.
On Thursday, the case prompted the FDA to issue an alert to healthcare professionals reminding them that the new insulin injection pens are each for use on one patient only. It’s not clear whether clinic or hospital staffs elsewhere in the United States have unknowingly exposed patients to the same dangers. Sometimes, the widespread nature of such medical errors does not become known until FDA alerts medical professionals that some practice is ill-advised.
-- Melissa Healy
