Mallinckrodt
06-08-2008, 07:44 PM
A woman was awarded 6 million dollars when a jury found a doctor negligent for his failure to swab an injection site with disinfectant. The woman was referred to the doctors pain clinic by her physican after she had neck surgery.
A few weeks after she recieved the shots in her neck, the woman went to the er where doctors diagnosed her with an epidermal abcess. The abcess was removed two days later by a neurosurgeon who then testified that he saw infected needle tracks in the area where the pain injection was given.
The womans attourney alleged that the doctor must have failed to properly disinfect the injection site pior to the pain shots that lead to the abcess, and eventually to the woman being paralized.
This is obviously an extreme case but I thought it illustrated the harm reduction point nicely, even with things as simple as swabing the skin. I know when we're sick we sometimes skip steps and do things we wouldn't normally do, but the next time you are going for a shot and haven't wiped your injection site with a disinfectant, think of this poor woman who isn't even an IV drug user and obviously has been exposed to far less injections than most of us.
A few weeks after she recieved the shots in her neck, the woman went to the er where doctors diagnosed her with an epidermal abcess. The abcess was removed two days later by a neurosurgeon who then testified that he saw infected needle tracks in the area where the pain injection was given.
The womans attourney alleged that the doctor must have failed to properly disinfect the injection site pior to the pain shots that lead to the abcess, and eventually to the woman being paralized.
This is obviously an extreme case but I thought it illustrated the harm reduction point nicely, even with things as simple as swabing the skin. I know when we're sick we sometimes skip steps and do things we wouldn't normally do, but the next time you are going for a shot and haven't wiped your injection site with a disinfectant, think of this poor woman who isn't even an IV drug user and obviously has been exposed to far less injections than most of us.