Roommates, there has been a lot of skepticism in regards to getting vaccinated recently, and this slip up is not helping the flu shot case at all!
According to CNN, ten people at a care facility in Oklahoma have been hospitalized after they were injected with insulin instead of a flu shot, police say. The elderly folks of the Jacquelyn House care facility were all set to receive their flu shots, and found themselves unresponsive after a few minutes.
EMS and fire crews responding to the incident say they found multiple unresponsive people in the facility, and they were rushed to the hospital. The facility reportedly serves intellectually and developmentally disabled people,
Police say most of the patients were unable to speak, or able to walk, making it difficult for EMS staff to identify what had went wrong. None of the patients currently have the flu.
“All these people are symptomatic, lying on the ground, needing help but can’t communicate what they need,” said police Chief Tracy Roles. “That’s why I give a lot of praise to the fire and EMS staff for doing an outstanding job identifying the problem.”
The pharmacist who injected the insulin was reportedly a contractor, and get this Roomies, he is employed strictly for the purpose of administering vaccinations. Looks like somebody is going to be standing on that unemployment line!
“I’ve never seen where theres been some sort of medical misadventure to this magnitude,” Roles said. “But again, it could have been a lot worse. Not to downplay where we are, but thinking about where we could be, it could certainly have been very tragic.”
As of now, some of the patients have remained hospitalized at the Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Director of communications for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Tony D. Sellars, says his department is reviewing the facility’s report on the incident.
“There is no reason to suggest at this point that the facility should have had a reasonable suspicion that this sort of error would occur or be preventable on their part.”
