Insulin Pumps Causing Injuries, Deaths
May 6th, 2008 joshua
The Food and Drug Administration recently found insulin pumps, used to treat Type 1 diabetes by tens of thousands of teenagers, to be linked to injuries and deaths.
Parents are being encouraged to monitor their child’s use of an insulin pump, especially in younger children. The FDA is not recommending patients stop using the pumps, but says more safety research must be done with these controversial medical devices.
The problems with insulin pumps and children are two-fold. Sometimes, the FDA found, the pumps malfunctioned and either injured or led to the deaths of patients. Other times, however, they consider the irresponsible tendencies of children to blame. Children have been injured or died when they were careless or “took risks” with their insulin pumps.
The AP reports, the lead author of the FDA research says, “The FDA takes pediatric deaths seriously. Parental oversight and involvement are important. Certainly teenagers don’t always consider the consequences.
As many as 100,000 teenagers could be using insulin pumps as they seemingly provide a convenient way to deliver insulin to diabetic patients. Pumps generate $1.3 billion in sales annually. Pumps are only used to treat Type 1 diabetes, which used to be known as “juvenile diabetes.”












