Becton Dickinson and Needle Sticks

BECTON DICKINSON AND NEEDLE STICKS Becton Dickinson (BD) is the largest medical suppliers manufacturing company headquartered in America. BD dominates the injection market and needle shots. In 1986, Becton Dickinson acquired the privilege of patenting a newly discovered by Charles B Mitchell. In 1988, by doing some research, Becton Dickinson finally decided that the injection is marketed to protect the arm. The injections can actually be used for all sizes of injection 1cc, 3 cc, 5 cc and 10 cc. But the company decided to market a 3 cc injection to protect the arm. Injections of 3 cc syringes marketed in 1988 under the safety-lok syringe brand. The use of 3 cc injections is about half the usual injections but despite its size, 5 cc and 10 cc syringes are preferred by the nurse when taking blood. But since only Becton Dickinson has a patent license and the price of the injection product is expensive, almost all nurses in the US do not use injections with safety, including medical facility where Maryann Rockwood, who served as a BD nurse, was assigned to take blood of patients affected by hepatitis B and AIDS

In 1992, Maryaan Rockwood nurse used 5cc syringe BD and a needle to take blood from an AIDS-infected patient. Mrs. Rockwood works in a clinic dealing with AIDS patients and she is in charge of taking blood from some of these patients. After taking, he transferred the blood contaminated with AIDS to be sterilized into a tube which is often called a vacutainer tube with rubber on the pipe that he holds with his hand. At that time, he had an accident, his finger punctured needles contaminated with AIDS. As a result, Rockwood was found to be HIV positive

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Analysis from Society’s Perspective

Society can be defined through many different factors. The simplest of all is the general, dictionary definition that states: ‘P eople in general living together in organized communities, with laws and traditions controlling the way that they behave towards one another .’ (Macmillan Dictionary, 2014)

The crucial parts in this definition are the’ laws and traditions’ that control the society. We can easily interpret these as Government and Culture in contemporary society. Through Culture we have interests, task divisions and roles, and we can say that nowadays Businesses play a big part of a nation’s Culture. In addition we can say that both Government and Business are parts of Society, while Society is being influenced by both sectors nonetheless, creating a cycle of actions and reactions. In this case society represents the organisations and the people under their care. The organisations fall under either business or government sector, even though they are societies on their own, and part of a bigger society altogether. On one

side we have the hospitals, on the other, businesses and in between them the regulating bodies. The society that I will be talking about in this report represents all the people involved, the business people, the government and the rest of society, the common folk. Society has different faces. Society can be the victim; it can be the harasser and finally the peace maker. The role it will take depends on what roles other two parties might take. In all cases society tends to stay critical, as human nature in itself is critical. We make the decisions on whether something is right or wrong, whether it is good or bad, and finally we make the divisions. Academically speaking we use critical thinking and ethical reasoning in our everyday lives (Gini, 2005), and with the power of sociological imagination we give shape to our thoughts, ideas and morals (Van Krieken, et al., 2006). Society will always look for actions and ways that are benefiting for itself, and will dispose of anything that collides with its ideology. When talking about ideologies, two main ones need to be mentioned: The first one being consequentialism which states, as its name, that all human thoughts, morals and ideas are directed by the outcomes of their actions. One same action can be considered either right or wrong depending on the consequence. The second ideology revolves around laws and moral perceptions, and is called deontology (Gini, 2005). The case has presented us with several issues arising from the conflicts between society, business and government. The main cause of these issues would be the AIDS epidemic, and increased exposure of nurses to highly infectious diseases and viruses through needle stick accidents. It has bee n noted that during 1990’s , 80 percent of all registered injury inquiries were needle sticks. With the rising number of patients and infected people, the Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed new guidelines for health workers and nurses. As the guidelines reformation

failed, the Becton Dickinson Company that was in charge of producing almost 70 percent of all syringes and needles in the U.S. decided not to change anything about the design of its syringes. The reason for that were the overall procedure in engineering a new syringe and the increased cost of producing such a syringe. In 1986, the first improved syringe was patented. Soon after its announcement, Becton Dickinson bought the patent, and started its field tests. This new syringe had a number of disadvantages, such as limited use and higher price. The hospitals could not afford such a syringe, so

The hospitals could not afford such a syringe, so

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they kept using the old ones. After an incident where a nurse pricked her finger with contaminated blood, and therefore sued Becton Dickinson, OSHA finally directed that all health workers get a free vaccine. In 1998, another company, Retractable Technologies Inc., launched a new syringe that finally solved the problem with needle sticks. On the negative side, the syringe could not make its way to the marketplace because Becton Dickinson bought its place into hospitals via GPO. This move caused thousands of deaths in the next 6 years

Nurses worked in high-stress emergency situations requiring quick action, and they were often pressed for time both because of the large number of patients they cared for and the highly variable needs and demands of these patients. In such workplace environments, it was difficult to adhere to the guidelines recommended by the agencies. For example, a high-risk source of needle sticks is the technique of replacing the cap on a needle (after it has been used) by holding the cap in one hand and inserting the needle into the cap with the other hand. OSHA guidelines warned against this tow-handed technique of recapping and recommended instead that the cap be placed on a surface and the nurse use a one- handed “spearing” technique to replace the cap.

During the 1990s, the AIDS epidemic posed peculiarly acute dilemmas for health workers. After routinely removing an intravenous system, drawing blood, or delivering an injection to an AIDS patient, nurses could easily stick themselves with the needle they were using. “Rarely a day goes by in any large hospital where a needle stick incident is not reported. “ In fact, needlestick injuries accounted for about 80 percent of reported occupational exposure to the AIDS virus among health care workers.2 It was conservatively estimated in 1991 that about 64 health care workers were infected with the AIDS virus each year as a result of needlestick injuries.AIDS was not the only risk posed by needlestick injuries