Arrrgh, Help Murder!

[Paul]

Like many people, I watch TV during dialysis. Today, switching from one channel to another I caught the last ten minutes of Quincy before the show I wanted (some of our TV stations are not very up to date). In those ten minutes Quincy stopped a murder in a hospital and got the bad guy arrested. The way the killer was trying to kill the patient was by adding heparin to a drip bag so that the heperin entered the patient's body and they bled to death.

A couple of minutes after the show ended, a nurse approached my bed to inject heparin into the dialysis machine so that it would enter my body.

As if dialysis isn't scary enough.

[Jean]

LOL Paul. You will find out soon enough that TV shows and movies alike are not exactly factual.

[iolaire]

I felt the same the first time I saw bits of air floating into my arm with the blood!

[kristina]

Like many people, I watch TV during dialysis. Today, switching from one channel to another I caught the last ten minutes of Quincy before the show I wanted (some of our TV stations are not very up to date). In those ten minutes Quincy stopped a murder in a hospital and got the bad guy arrested. The way the killer was trying to kill the patient was by adding heparin to a drip bag so that the heperin entered the patient's body and they bled to death.

A couple of minutes after the show ended, a nurse approached my bed to inject heparin into the dialysis machine so that it would enter my body.

As if dialysis isn't scary enough.

Hello Paul,
I daresay your hair was already standing up after the film and then there came the moment, when the nurse approached you with the heparin-needle ... and it obviously was a case of "wrong timing" all along.
Hopefully there won't be any more mishaps with the timing in the future and I send you my best wishes from Kristina

[Simon Dog]

Heparin and Insulin are considered two of the most dangerous drugs in hospitals.   My wife is a RN and administering either of these requires a second RN to verify the dose before administration.

An issue with Heparin is that is comes in several concentrations.   Grab the wrong vial, and you can 10x, 100x or even 1000x overdose.   I think the risk is minimal in clinics since I believe they stock only one concentration, and even a full 10cc syringe is unlikely to be lethal.

[GA_DAWG]

Not long after starting to use my graft, the catheter was still in, I was given too much heparin. Sat there nearly two hours waiting for the sticks to stop bleeding. Eventually, I had to take an ambulance ride to the hospital where the transplant and vascular hed met me in the ER. He said it happens a lot, too often in his mind. Anyway, all of the clotting agent in my body had been wiped out. They gave me something to make the blood clot and replace the clotting agent. The nurse had to sit right beside me as it was given in an IV, and told me if I felt any shortness of breath to tell her immediately so she could stop it. Seems lots of people are allergic to it. Finally got to leave about 11 that night. Not a lot of food choices at 11 on a Tuesday night.

[Paul]

LOL Paul. You will find out soon enough that TV shows and movies alike are not exactly factual.

Oh, as someone who used to make part of his living as a writer I know this too well. Many a time the little editor on my right shoulder would poke me with a sharp stick and say "Paul, what you just wrote as a 'fact' is not actually scientifically correct". This is usually followed by the little publisher on my left shoulder saying "Who cares? It is a great plot device and it will sell copy." Sadly the publisher usually won. Even more sadly this was not always when I was writing fiction (used to make good money creating conspiracy theories and selling them to those who wanted to believe the worst).

Heparin and Insulin are considered two of the most dangerous drugs in hospitals.

Oh goodie, I take both. See you on the other side guys!

[Simon Dog]

Another possibility is heparin induced thrombocytopenia.

[Geiser100]

Ahh TV...if I remember there was a show I saw once where someone killed a guy by injecting air into his IV line. That scared me to death. Well after getting numerous IVs in my life and watching small air bubbles go into my blood stream while thinking "is this the end?" I realized that was just for TV. Large amounts of air can kill, but small air bubbles will do no harm. They will be broken up in the heart and then absorbed by the lungs.

[Paul]

small air bubbles will do no harm

Not true. The won't kill you, but they increase the chances of rheumatoid arthritis in later life.

[cassandra]

small air bubbles will do no harm

Not true. The won't kill you, but they increase the chances of rheumatoid arthritis in later life.

And blood clots in people on HD as in with a graft or fistula or neckline.