2,000 patients warned after hospital re-used insulin pens

By The Associated Press

OLEAN, N.Y. -- A second western New York hospital is notifying patients that they may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C through the improper sharing of insulin pens, hospital officials said Thursday.

Olean General Hospital was mailing letters to 1,915 patients who received insulin at the hospital from November 2009 through last week, advising them to call to arrange for blood testing. The risk of infection is very low, hospital officials said, but they wanted patients to be aware of the possibility.

Hospital officials said the action follows an internal review conducted after the Veterans Affairs hospital in Buffalo discovered more than 700 patients may have been exposed to blood-borne pathogens over a two-year period when multi-use pens intended for use by a single patient may have been used on more than one person.

"Interviews with nursing staff indicated that the practice of using one patient's insulin pen for other patients may have occurred on some patients," said Timothy Finan, president and chief executive of Upper Allegheny Health System, the parent company of the Olean hospital.

Olean General had not identified any specific patients who may have received an injection from another patient's pen and knew of no cases of infection, Finan said in a news release.

"Regardless, to the extent there may be a chance, however remote, that any patient was provided insulin from an insulin pen other than their own, Olean General Hospital has decided to be proactive and aggressive with respect to notification of our patients," the release said.

As was the case in Buffalo, needles were changed with each use of the insulin pens, the Olean hospital said. The risk of infection remained, however, because stored insulin in the pen cartridge could have become contaminated by a back flow of blood with each use.

"We are very aware that while the risk of infection from insulin pen re-use is extremely small, cross-contamination from an insulin pen is possible," Finan said.

Federal health agencies have been warning against sharing insulin pens for several years. The Food and Drug Administration issued an alert in March 2009 after learning that more than 2,000 patients may have been exposed at a Texas hospital between 2007 and 2009.

A clinical alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year came amid continued reports of the practice.

The pens have been removed from use at Olean General. They were never used at a second hospital in the Upper Allegheny Health System, Bradford Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania, Finan said.

Revelations of the issue at the VA hospital led the Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General to initiate a review of the Buffalo hospital.

Explore related topics: health-care, hepatitis, insulin-pens

Confussed-1578043

I found a web site that lets you donate your unused insulin to them so they can redistribute it to people that can't afford insulin. Here is the problem if people are like me I don't use a clean needle each time I draw insulin from a vial or when using a pin. This is what the contamination is from. Now I'm going to tell you why and how expensive insulin has become. I've been a diabetic for 14 years but on insulin for only 4. When I first started on insulin I was self employed and uninsured. I paid for my own insulin, cash. At that time I paid 107 a vial. A year after that I was able to find an insurance company (wife's insurance) and was able to get insulin for just $35 co pay. I didn't pay attention to what the insurance company was paying until my wife changed jobs and I had to again buy my own insulin (cash) for 6 months. I was told insulin had gone up in price and would now cost me $173 a vial cash. That was just 2 years after I initially started using it. Once again I was able to get on my wife's insurance and again pay a copayment of $40, it had gone up $5 a prescription. After having this insurance for 2 years the company my wife works for changed insurance companies and my Co pay has raised to $45 a prescription of insulin. I have noticed on my monthly statement from the insurance company they are being charged $266 a vial from the pharmacy. So you can see insulin has more than doubled in price in just 4 years but that's not all. I am now on Medicare and I reached my donut hole in November of last year and couldn't understand why. I was informed that with what the Medicare Plan D paid plus what I paid (my part copayment) I reached the $2930.00 donut hole. When talking to the insurance company I asked why I was able to pay cash ($173) for my insulin and they paid $266. I was told that is not possible so I asked the agent to humor me and call the pharmacy and ask how much the insulin was if he paid cash (no insurance). He told me it would be the same $266 but he would call them to verify. After being on hold for a couple of minutes he came back and said he was dumb founded because they had quoted him a price of $309.00 a vial. Because of this the insurance company and I are possible going to sue the pharmacy for price tampering or what ever else we can get them on. I have been in contact with the lawyers and may get a lifetime of insulin free plus all the money back I have spent on insulin at this pharmacy. I wish I could tell you which pharmacy and Insurance Company is involved and I may do that in the future if the courts allow. My suggestion to you is, no matter what medication you take call your pharmacy or multiple pharmacies and ask the cash price before you tell them you have insurance and once your monthly statement comes verify the price is the same. Over charging insurances is one of the major problems with our Medicare Program. Pharmacies bill Medicare if you have Medicare Advantage (part D). It's only a matter of time before more people can't afford insulin and are forced to use or share with a stranger's insulin. If a new needle is not used each time then you might as well be sharing needles.