Mislabeled Insulin Syringes

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Updated: 11:23 PM Oct 8, 2008 Mislabeled Insulin Syringes A Barboursville woman gets the wrong dose of insulin and ends up at the hospital and she says it's all because of a mislabeled syringe she bought at Wal-Mart. Posted: 7:35 PM Oct 6, 2008 Reporter: Stephanie Satchell Email Address: stephanie.satchell@wcav.tv

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October 6, 2008

A Barboursville woman gets the wrong dose of insulin and ends up at the hospital. She says it's all because of a mislabeled syringe she bought at Wal-Mart.

If you're a diabetic you may want to take a second look at your Reli-On brand syringes.

In a box that Shirley Payne recently bought, about 5 syringes were mislabeled, causing her to take too much insulin.

Shirley Payne has been living with diabetes for over 20 years and has never had a problem with her insulin or supplies until now.

While vacationing in the mountains in North Carolina Shirley got sick and didn’t know why.

“Makes you nervous because you feel like you’re helpless to do anything. I was given her candy driving one hand off that curvy mountain and given her candy and glucose and everything else and she’s still putting the meter down and she says it’s not helping,” said Roger Payne, Shirley's husband.

It turned out Shirley had taken too much insulin. They rushed to get Shirley help.

“They put that needle in her arm and got here back up we thought everything was find and Jim dandy but we still couldn’t understand why she just got down so low and couldn't get here back up,” said Payne.

When Shirley got back home she figured out what lead to the wrong dosage.

“She got this box and she was looking through it… these needles are not all the same there the same size but there not marked the same,” said Payne.

And when she went back to the Wal-Mart where she purchased the syringes, she she did not get the answer she was looking for.

“They said we'll give you another box for them if you turn them in. She said that's not the real thing of it it’s dangerous for people to pull it up in its mislabeled,” said Payne.

Shirley is better now. She says she now wants to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

CBS19 contacted both Wal-Mart and the company that makes the syringes both said they were looking into the matter but have not recalled the item.

The syringes are made by Reli-on and are sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club pharmacies.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Gary Location: Washington on Jul 3, 2010 at 09:52 PM

Some Advise about taking insulin. If you take too much insulin and catch it quickly, I have mixed 1/2 cup sugar with water and drank it to flood my system with sugar. Seems to work and one should check blood sugar levels every 15 minutes. I keep and emergency glucose kit in the fridge, in preparedness, if blood sugar is extremely low. My blood sugar was 39 when I used it the first time. Scary feeling, especially if alone. I use Reli On syringes and have never had any problem.

Posted by: Tyrone Location: East Hartford, CT on Feb 10, 2009 at 09:42 AM

I am a diabetic and used Reli On syringes because of the low cost. I had been complaining about burning after using the needles. My wife heard about a recall or an attorney representing the victims. If anyone has this information please share with me.

Posted by: JEWEL Location: JENA, LOUISIANA on Nov 6, 2008 at 09:21 AM

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT WALMART IS GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS BECAUSE MY DAD BUYS HIS SYRINGES FROM WALMART AND HE HAS BEEN HAVING TROUBLE ALOT LATERLY.

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