More than 3,000 patients may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV after officials discovered insulin pens meant for single-use may have been used on multiple patients, according to a report by The Middletown Press.
Officials at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., have issued a warning for patients hospitalized between Sept. 1, 2008 and May 7, 2014 who were prescribed insulin pens. The hospital sent a letter to 3,149 patients notifying them of the potential misuse and recommending them to get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV within the next 30 days, according to the report. The hospital will pay for the testing as well as any required treatment cost.
In a statement, the hospital said it is "certain that pen needles were not reused" because the hospital uses safety needles preventing that needle from being used more than once. However, the pen's insulin cartridge can be contaminated through backflow of blood or skin cells, which could potentially transmit an infection even with a new needle, the hospital said.
Griffin Hospital president and CEO Patrick Charmel said five nurses said they either used the single-use pens on multiple patients or saw someone else using them on multiple patients, according to the report. The nurses will be disciplined, but "the punishment will not be punitive," Mr. Charmel said, according to the report.
The hospital statement said so far there is no evidence that any infection transmission occurred from improper use of the insulin pens, and the hospital has not identified any patients that received an insulin injection from a previously used pen.
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