Nursing Home Deaths Due to Improper Insulin Injection

Jennifer Moore

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Two elderly women recently died at Parkway Medical Center due to a reaction to an insulin injection. The women did not have diabetes. Parkway Medical Center is a long-term nursing care facility. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services reported that Parkway believes it was error or "purposeful malicious administration of insulin." The Attorney General's office is investigating.

Insulin is used to control blood sugar for people with diabetes. Too much can cause hypoglycemia, which can cause seizures, confusion and loss of consciousness if left untreated, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Initial reports indicate that an employee of an outside agency may have improperly injected the women with insulin causing their blood sugar level to drop too low.

The cabinet report said all three women had blood sugar levels in the "twenties" -- a level that is dangerously low and very unusual, said Dr. Sathya Krishnasamy, an assistant professor of endocrinology at the University of Louisville medical school.

When blood sugar drops to that level, a person may become comatose and can die if it is not reversed, she said. Orange juice or glucose medication is commonly used to restore blood sugar to appropriate levels and stabilize the patient, she said.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.