Toddler Ingests Blood From Mysterious Vial Found At Apartment Complex

Could this be explained as simply as kids dumpster-diving then leaving their found treasures in the picnic area of the apartment complex? In any case, it's frightening that biologic waste would have been in an unsecured dumpster!!!

The mother said she discovered the vials while her family was having a cookout. Her 2-year-old son found one first, opened it and drank the blood. She rushed him to the emergency room, where he underwent a series of tests.


Hospital workers used numbers on the vial to trace it to Matthews Children's Clinic, which is located next door to the apartment complex. Police officers are investigating, but said there is no criminal wrongdoing thus far. According to state law, any vial containing less than 20 CCs of blood can be thrown out with regular trash and doesn't have to be treated as hazardous waste. The vial Giovanni drank from held 10 CCs, or two teaspoons.

Neither the hospital nor police know exactly where the vials came from. Still, workers are putting padlocks on the dumpsters.



video:
http://www.wsoctv.com/video/23467417/index.html

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wowie! That IS frightening. I just always assumed that biologicals, no matter the quantity, were disposed of in those little biological waste canisters that you see in your doctors office. That is just mind blowing that there are vials of blood being tossed out with regular garbage - and that's okay? Not with me.

Wow, that would be scary. Our son has a home nurse come twice per week to draw blood for labs; I was given a sharps container for the needles and told that I could throw the syringes of discarded blood in the regular garbage. That grosses me out, though...we always just put the blood into the sharps container as well and when it's full the nursing company disposes of it for us.
Even if it's perfectly legal, I hope that the thought of a toddler drinking a discarded vial of blood is enough to make this clinic and others think twice before tossing that into unsecured dumpsters. Yuck!

" According to state law, any vial containing less than 20 CCs of blood can be thrown out with regular trash and doesn't have to be treated as hazardous waste. The vial Giovanni drank from held 10 CCs, or two teaspoons."



I'm wondering if the understanding of that statute is not clear. One 10cc vial tossed in garbage is very different than a lot of vials, each containing less than 20cc..... I'll bet it is being discussed now & will be clear in the future.... hoping this child is not adversely affected.

I suppose the origin has been tracked to a particular patient & is now known why the blood was drawn, but can you imagine what the parents are going through? ..... Anybody else smell a lawsuit?

noZme said:

" According to state law, any vial containing less than 20 CCs of blood can be thrown out with regular trash and doesn't have to be treated as hazardous waste. The vial Giovanni drank from held 10 CCs, or two teaspoons."



I'm wondering if the understanding of that statute is not clear. One 10cc vial tossed in garbage is very different than a lot of vials, each containing less than 20cc..... I'll bet it is being discussed now & will be clear in the future.... hoping this child is not adversely affected.

I suppose the origin has been tracked to a particular patient & is now known why the blood was drawn, but can you imagine what the parents are going through? ..... Anybody else smell a lawsuit?

Click to expand...

We caught some kids ages around 7 under playing in the dumpter, next to our condo. I was mortified and so was my friend. She walked over and made them get out and told their mothers. The mother's acted like it was no big deal. All I thought about was tetnus, hepatitus, and all kinds of other nastiness.

I would be suing the lab!!!

Maybe the law is different here in MA,but, when I was in chemo and had blood drawn at home everything was thrown in our sharps container. Of course they did not leave vials. There is no reason too. Medical waist should NEVER be put in an apartment building's trash. The hospital has their own trash. One last comment,we had dumpsters when I was a kid and we were taught from the get go not to play around or heaven forbid in them.