# 36 Saline drips injected with Insulin one Died and 11 others affected



## Donald (Jul 16, 2011)

One Died and 11 others affected at stepping hill hospital Manchester it has been on the news



http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&so...ptCqAw&usg=AFQjCNFUkI98WuVruuH0bBvRlVMDhxlxBw


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## margie (Jul 16, 2011)

They said suspicions were raised when several patients had unusually low blood sugars. 

Its the kind of story you want to avoid if you are going into hospital.


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## Steff (Jul 16, 2011)

It's terrible bbc news were talking to Gary who is traceys brother, they now have to wait weeks for the investigation and all they want to do is get on with proceedings for her funeral x


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## sasha1 (Jul 16, 2011)

I was stunned when this story fist broke..  my condolences go out to the families involved.

Unfortunately this is'nt the first time that insulin has been administered in this way, at the cost of lives. If my memory serves me right, was it, Beverley Allit, the paediatric nurse, who used insulin, to take the lives of several babies. Many apologies, if this was not the case.

Heidi
xx


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## Donald (Jul 16, 2011)

sasha1 said:


> I was stunned when this story fist broke..  my condolences go out to the families involved.
> 
> Unfortunately this is'nt the first time that insulin has been administered in this way, at the cost of lives. If my memory serves me right, was it, Beverley Allit, the paediatric nurse, who used insulin, to take the lives of several babies. Many apologies, if this was not the case.
> 
> ...



Hi Heidi  Yes it was her that used insulin and I think also in  some cases Potassium chloride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chloride


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## Donald (Jul 16, 2011)

Steff said:


> It's terrible bbc news were talking to Gary who is traceys brother, they now have to wait weeks for the investigation and all they want to do is get on with proceedings for her funeral x



Yes It must be hard for them they cannot grieve properly until the funeral.


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## KateXXXXXX (Jul 16, 2011)

It must be terrifying for folk with loved ones in that hospital.  My heart goes out to them.


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## mcdonagh47 (Jul 16, 2011)

Donald said:


> One Died and 11 others affected at stepping hill hospital Manchester
> ]



Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport.


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## Donald (Jul 16, 2011)

mcdonagh47 said:


> Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport.



Sorry I thought Stockport was part of Manchester.


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## Dizzydi (Jul 16, 2011)

This hospital is 5 minutes from my house..... glad I don't go to this one for my care, I go to wythenshaw. Scary thing is my neice was admitted Thursday night with heart problems.

Stepping hill is Stockport cheshire.


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## RachelT (Jul 17, 2011)

Scary indeed, the Potassium Chloride thing was interesting, i was wondering why we kept such a close control on the stuff. I do feel terribly sad for the families of the people who died, it's really awful when things like this happen ,and alarming that they do so often. My heart also goes out to all the hard working, compassionate nurses who'd never dream of doing something like that.
But please, please, please can we not have to record insulin issues in a Controlled Drug register in the future, coz that would just be a nightmare!


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## Steff (Jul 20, 2011)

Lets hope the recent arrest of a 26 year old nurse will shed some light and if she is the guilty one gets whats coming to her.


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## margie (Jul 20, 2011)

Whoever is responsible needs a lot of help.  If the Police have found the person responsible it will relieve some of the anxiety that the patients are bound to be feeling.


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## Steff (Jul 21, 2011)

margie said:


> Whoever is responsible needs a lot of help.  If the Police have found the person responsible it will relieve some of the anxiety that the patients are bound to be feeling.



seen picture of her in todays daily express some 26 yr old by the name of Rebecca


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## Freddie99 (Jul 21, 2011)

Just to clarify, a twenty seven year old nurse has been arrested in relation to this. She is currently being questioned by Greater Manchester Police. Her professional registration is being suspended by the NMC whilst she is under investigation.


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## margie (Jul 21, 2011)

Can I just say be careful what you say - as it could prejudice a trial. Also if you remember at Christmas someone was arrested had their name all over the press, criticised widely and turned out to be innocent.

What Tom says is the current situation and beyond that I don't want to comment.


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## AlisonM (Jul 21, 2011)

News on Aunty is saying that the fourth victim who was in ciritcal condition has also died now. What a nightmare. I wonder if we will ever know why the person responsible did this awful thing.


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## Mark T (Jul 21, 2011)

I feel for the relatives of those that have died.

The one thing that confuses me is that this has been reported as the saline drips had been tampered with and insulin added.  My understanding is that an excess of insulin would cause hypos, coma and death ? but wouldn?t that be a rather immediate thing rather then taking some days.

Of course I don?t know what the underlying issues that those patients who were affected had, and how low blood sugar would interact with that.


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## AlisonM (Jul 21, 2011)

I'm not sure Mark, but it may depend on what else was going on in the patient's body at the time. The insulin may have triggered/exacerbated other problems which slowly overtook his system until it failed.


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## Freddie99 (Jul 21, 2011)

That depends on many variables Mark. Saline and many other intravenous fluids run over a long period of time. For example alot of the saline drips that I come into contact with at work are run over an eight hour period. That would mean that the insulin would take a while to be delivered in any dose large enough to do damage. It also depends upon the type or types of insulin that were used. There are many more variables that I can't even begin to think about.


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## shiv (Jul 21, 2011)

BBC is now saying 5 people have died (a further 2).

Sounds like for some of them, especially the elderly ones, this may have been a 'last straw' kind of thing.


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## Catwoman76 (Jul 21, 2011)

Steff said:


> seen picture of her in todays daily express some 26 yr old by the name of Rebecca



It's so shocking that these poor people had to die and also  for the greiving families.

I just wanted to say that IF this young woman has nothing to do with this terrible act, her name has been plastered all over the newspapers, TV and Radio.  I really think names should be with held until the person or persons are charged with the crime. Innocent until proven guilty, the nurse has a family as well.  Thinking of vigalanties.
 I can't believe another human being can do such an evil and wicked thing, but as we know, it's happened before.  So so sad  Sheena


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## RachelT (Jul 21, 2011)

We've sent two of my hapless colleagues out today to check that all the insulin on the wards are under lock and key and that all the saline ampoules are being stored correctly. They're now being treated for nervous exhaustion (joke). As you can imagine we're all pretty befuddled and worried by this at work, we all want to think that the people we work with are nice, caring people and we can't understand why anybody'd want to do this. We're all a little confused how anyone could deliberately contaminate a saline bag or ampoule without anyone noticing (maybe some nurses could enlighten us?). Yes, i know that wards are very busy places with many many distractions on them. I've recently started training to go out on the wards myself and i've got nothing but admiration for the way nursing staff manage to work under trying conditions.  Perhaps somebody somewhere will realise that we need more staff! Escpecially if we're going to have to keep tabs on where all the insulin is going.

Rachel


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## Steff (Sep 2, 2011)

I see today the charges against the lady were dropped.


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## Donald (Sep 2, 2011)

wonder what happend there I have only heared a little bit so not sure what happened.


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## Northerner (Sep 2, 2011)

Donald said:


> wonder what happend there I have only heared a little bit so not sure what happened.



They didn't have a good enough case against her, but they are still investigating - they didn't have enough evidence to keep her on remand.


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## Hazel (Sep 2, 2011)

I am sure that will be a great comfort to the deceased families - not!


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## Donald (Sep 2, 2011)

Northerner said:


> They didn't have a good enough case against her, but they are still investigating - they didn't have enough evidence to keep her on remand.



looks like it is while to pin down anything for sure but the families will be needing closure


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