Improperly Administered Injections and Their Potential Side Effects

A practitioner or any other individual who performs therapeutic injections should be well qualified in this area by being educated, trained and have experience to properly diagnose and manage the specific disorder that he or she is treating. If one doesn't use the proper procedures in administering injections, he is putting his patient as well as himself at great risk. The application of any injectable substance can lead to allergic, idiosyncratic or adverse side effects.

Botox is one of the most well known injections on the market today. It is commonly used for cosmetic procedures but has also been used for other medical conditions. It is has been approved by the FDA for treatment of muscle pain.

Chris Dewey, a Mahnomen Minnesota sheriffs deputy was shot and severely wounded with a gunshot wound to his head and abdomen on Feb.18,2009, while responding to a crime. He has been under constant medical care since this happened almost a year and a half ago. He was in a rehab facility in Colorado until just a few months ago when he was flown back to his home state of Minnesota for further care and treatment. Today Chris Dewey is in hospice care. Complications from a Botox injection that he received for muscle pain caused pneumothroax (air in the chest cavity) to set in. His frail body is unable to fight this condition and he's been given just a matter of days to live.

Although there is no reason at this time to believe that the Botox was improperly injected into Chris Dewey's body, this is one of the life-threatening (although rare) conditions that can develop from an injection weather properly or improperly injected.

In a decision for victims of dangerous drugs throughout the United States, on March 4,2009 the Supreme Court upheld a Vermont state court decision awarding 6.7 million dollars to a woman who suffered permanent injuries from an anti-nausea drug. The case involved a Vermont woman who developed gangrene after a botched injection of the drug, which resulted in the amputation of her hand and lower arm. The tragedy caused the woman to lose her livelihood, her career as a musician.

The physician's assistant who performed the injection, according to medical records, used a highly risky intravenous push technique, which allowed the drug to enter an artery, rather than the intravenous drip technique, the much safer method in which the drug is injected into liquid already flowing into a vein. Allowing the drug to enter the artery causes immediate and irreversible gangrene.

The decision in this case to allow state damage suits will undoubtedly cause manufacturers to use greater care in the production and labeling of their products.

The above cases are just a couple of examples of the potential risks and dangers that can be encountered when administering and using injectable drugs, even though the drugs may be deemed FDA approved.

Sources:

www.nylegalblog.com/2009/us supreme court decision
Isanti County News.com/7/21/2010
emedicine.medscope.com
mayo clinic.com