Insulin instead of Mexican flu shot

meurtelken

D.D. Family
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Belgium, EUROPE
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type I, pumping Apidra in Accuchek Combo
AMSTERDAM - Eleven residents of a nursing home in Laren, HOLLAND, have been taken to the hospital, after having had a wrong vaccination.

Instead of getting the Mexican flu shot, they were given insulin. "Apparently the nurse didn't check the labels before she injected insulin instead of the flu shot. ", the principal of the nursing home states. "We are still looking into the matter and we are very sorry it happened."

After the eleventh patient had had its shot, the staff noticed the mistake and they called for a doctor. All victims have been taken to the hospital for a check up. Their sugar levels will be monitored closely.
The principal of the nursing home hopes his residents will be home by Friday. "The insulin could have caused many problems if we hadn't noticed it in time," the principal says. "We are pretty sure none of the residents will suffer any damage."
There are 218 elderly staying in the nursing home. The average age is 83/84.
There were only problems on one department of the home.



Each one of the eleven residents must have got 50 units of insulin...
 
Wow - I'm not sure what to say on that...

I sure hope many of those patients were insulin resistant and didn't have too much effect of it. Although I'm pretty insulin resistant, I know what 50 units of insulin would do to my body..:msnzip:
 
Reminds me of the time in Summer camp when the Nurse, unable to wake me, gave me a shot of Regular... Good thing the ferry from the mainland got the ambulance there in a hurry! Woke up in the hospital :p
 
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I think this problem probably happens a lot . We just don't hear about it. There was a case in NYC a few weeks ago where they were giving the H1N1 shot to school kids who had parental permission. Well, somehow they goofed and gave an epileptic child whose was not on the list, the shot and she ended up with a terrible reaction and in the hospital. I guess it is part of human error, but it is scary.
 
50 units is terrible --- the most I would ever use is 10 and that would be for alot of food and having an already high reading. I'm insulin sentitive and have had Drs. prescribe to much insulin which has given me reactions that caused me to pass out and wake up completely soaked in sweat. Then I start to feel like I'm freezing even thou it's hot outside. So, no one needs to tell me how dangerous "insulin" is, especially, if someone doesn't need the drug.
 
Yikes! I wonder what kind of insulin it was? Hopefully not one of the fast acting like Humalog or Novolog. If it was something like Lantus the effect would be spread out longer and maybe make it easier to keep the patients' BG level.

All of my flu shots have been given to me by my PCP except for last year, when I got one during a regular visit with my CDE. There was one nurse in charge of the flu shots at that office and I think that's all she was doing, so hopefully there were never any mixups. At my PCP's office, she does all of the shots herself and I've seen her look at the vial before drawing up the dose.
 
It was fast acting insulin. One of the residents has died.. the news said the other day..
OMG - in your OP it said that "We are pretty sure none of the residents will suffer any damage." - by the principal, whatever that is :eek:

This is indeed breaking news and if it were the USA there would likely be lawsuits and BIG trouble coming down the path. I am sorry that this is even possible to have happened. Blessings to the folks and the families of the folks affected by this grievous mistake.
 
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