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Up to 74 diabetic inmates at the
MacDougall-Walker State Prison in Connecticut may have been exposed to
hepatitis C and other infectious diseases when a nurse put a contaminated
needle into an insulin vial, according to court records. The nurse stuck an inmate
with a needle but realized she hadn’t yet filled it with insulin. She then put
the same needle into the vial before injecting insulin into the inmate, who
also had hepatitis C; the vial was then used on dozens of other diabetic
inmates, the documents detailed.
The inmates were first informed of
the contamination in a letter dated May 28 that requested inmates to
voluntarily be tested for three infections: hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV,
but gave few other details. A local television station was asked by family
members of one inmate to investigate further because their relative was “scared
and he was upset and he was crying,” according to the inmate’s sister-in-law.
The medical error was detailed in
court records because the Department of Corrections requested a judge to force
the inmates to take a blood test for HIV. The inmate at the center of the scare
has since tested negative for HIV and hepatitis B, which prompted the agency to
send an additional letter dated June 20 that stated “the transmission of HIV or
Hepatitis B is unlikely. There is still the concern for the transmission of
Hepatitis C.”
The University of Connecticut
(UConn) Health Center, which manages inmate health care for all Connecticut
state prisons, said they are still investigating the incident and that the
nurse in question had been put on administrative leave. A letter from UConn
stated in part, “all appropriate notifications have been made and protocols
followed. This includes a pending…joint investigation, which limits disclosure
of additional details. The risk of an infectious disease contracted as a result
of this is considered extremely low, and all tests so far have been negative.”
The state is continuing to test the inmates.
