NHS Investigating Contaminated Saline at Stepping Hill Hospital

This is scary as if errors are not bad enough but to have someone inside putting insulin into saline solutions is horrible, especially if it is found that it lead to the death of the 3 patients.  I don’t know who gets their kicks doing something like this by all means either and hope the culprit is found soon.  Nurses discovered the situation as patients were experiencing low level blood sugar readings for no apparent reason.

This is scary as if errors are not bad enough but to have someone inside putting insulin into saline solutions is horrible, especially if it is found that it lead to the death of the 3 patients.  I don’t know who gets their kicks doing something like this by all means either and hope the culprit is found soon.  Nurses discovered the situation as patients were experiencing low level blood sugar readings for no apparent reason.

Other patients were also affected but have survived.   Insulin was found in the saline solutions with products in the hospital store room.  The pathology reports on post death will be crucial here too.  Security at the hospital has been stepped up.  The Chief Executive of the hospital has released a statement which can be read here.  Again, it makes me shudder to think someone would be doing this at the hospital as it could theoretically happen anywhere.  BD 

LONDON (AP) — British police are investigating whether three hospital patients died as a result of receiving saline solution contaminated with insulin.

Detectives were hunting Saturday for the person who tampered with a batch of saline at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, northwest England.

The contamination was discovered earlier this week after a nurse reported a higher-than-normal number of patients with unexplained low blood sugar levels.

Detectives are awaiting post-mortem results to determine whether three patients — a 44-year-old woman and two men aged 71 and 84 — died as a result of the contamination.

Eleven other patients who received the contaminated saline were mildly affected and will be interviewed by police, along with all the hospital’s medical staff.

“(The investigation) is at a very early stage and we don’t know what effect, if any, the solution has had to the well-being of any patients,” said Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney.

3 die at UK hospital where saline was contaminated – Yahoo! News