A 77-year-old pensioner died after receiving a routine vitamin B12 injection, prompting a coroner to issue a warning over current skin cleansing guidelines.
Patricia Lines died less than a week after the vaccine was administered to her shoulder.
Deputy coroner Rebecca Sutton called for “common sense” practices and recommended the use of alcohol wipes as a preventative measure.
The incident raised concerns about current national guidelines, which do not require cleaning of the skin before injections unless it is “visibly dirty”.
The incident raised concerns about current national guidelines, which do not require cleaning the skin before injections unless the site appears “visibly dirty” (Stock)
Pennsylvania
Patricia Lines received the vitamin B12 injection on October 17 last year. Then, the next day, she became ill and was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a Strep A infection.
Despite medical efforts, her condition deteriorated and she sadly died on October 23.
An autopsy revealed that the injection site was likely the source of the invasive infection.
The investigation found that the nurse who administered the injection did not clean Lines’ skin beforehand because she was following current national guidelines, which only require cleaning for visibly dirty skin.
A jury concluded that the pensioner’s death was accidental, caused by septicemic shock.
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As a result, Deputy Coroner Rebecca Sutton raised concerns about current medical guidelines around cleaning the skin before injections.
In a report on preventing future deaths, she highlighted that alcohol wipes are “relatively cheap” and pose no significant risks.
Sutton pointed out that while current guidelines state that alcohol cleaning reduces bacteria counts, they also state that disinfection does not affect bacterial complications. However, she noted that this information was more than 20 years old.
The coroner pointed out that “common sense seems to suggest that reducing the number of bacteria would reduce the risk of inadvertently introducing bacteria into deeper tissues during an injection.”
Sutton has written to the UK Health Security Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, urging them to take action to prevent similar deaths in the future (Stock)
Pennsylvania
Today, following the coroner’s report, Sutton urged health authorities to take action to prevent future deaths.
She has written to the UK Health Security Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, urging them to take action to prevent similar deaths in the future.
Sutton expressed the need to update practices, saying alcohol wipes are a “cheap” and risk-free way to prevent such incidents.
Report recipients must respond by December 20.