Insulin Pumps Injuring and Killing Teenagers?
Posted on: Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pmFDA study: Insulin pumps linked to injuries, deaths in teens
Via News.Yahoo.com
According to investigations by the FDA they might be. But really it is more about the use/convenience of pumps have resulted in circumstances stemming from mis-education and carelessness that bring about such events.
“Parents should be vigilant in watching their children’s use of the pumps, researchers from the Food and Drug Administration wrote. They didn’t advise against using the devices. But they called for more study to address safety concerns in teens and even younger children who use the popular pumps.The federal review of use by young people over a decade found 13 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries connected with the pumps. At times, the devices malfunctioned, but other times, teens were careless or took risks, the study authors wrote.”
Now this is pretty startling, especially this note about basically using them as a suicide tactic:
“Some teens didn’t know how to use the pumps correctly, dropped them or didn’t take good care of them. There were two possible suicide attempts by teens who gave themselves too much insulin, according to the analysis.”
But ultimately it is really about proper education which was mentioned as well. Sometimes I think we get the idea that technology will do everything for us and take away that responsibility when in fact it doesn’t.
In this case though I think it would be the same case whether it was insulin pumps or syringes/insulin pens, the pumps just make it more “convenient” to get careless. Just shows that not matter what you always have to stay informed, educated and attentive.
Check it out: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/insulin_pumps
