Copyright 1999 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
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MAY 21, 1999, FRIDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 850 words
HEADLINE:
Federal Push To Avert Needle Sticks;
White House,
Congress both address problem
BYLINE: Marc Sandalow,
Reynolds Holding, Chronicle Staff Writers
DATELINE:
Washington
BODY:
Labor Secretary Alexis Herman
vowed yesterday to protect millions of health care workers from deadly
needle sticks by requiring safer syringes and blood-drawing
devices in medical facilities across the nation.
Responding to a report
summarizing hundreds of comments from hospitals, unions, nurses and doctors,
Herman declared that it is time "to make sure that health care workers have
up-to-date medical devices that limit the risk of needle sticks
and the potential for developing deadly diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis."
Herman's announcement came on the same day that East Bay Representative
Pete Stark introduced legislation that would mandate the use of safer needles
throughout the health care industry.
"This is a national crisis," said
Stark, D-Fremont, at a Capitol Hill news conference. "Health care workers
shouldn't have to risk their lives while saving the lives of their patients."
The calls for action were a major victory for safety advocates.
Last
year, California became the first state to pass a safe-needle law. That
legislation was sponsored by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, and
followed a Chronicle series that found that 1 million health care workers each
year are injured by needle sticks -- more than one-tenth of the incidents in
California.
Stark's bill is based a new California law, which has been
hailed as a national model by Stark, union leaders and some hospital officials.
The congressman has introduced safe-needle measures in the past without success.
This time -- with a Republican co-sponsor, and with technical changes to address
the concerns of some hospitals -- he is confident the bill will become law.
Needle pricks can lead to life-threatening infections and have been
blamed for thousands of illnesses and hundreds of deaths.
"For some, it
means months of tests and anxiety," said Andrew Stern, president of the Service
Employees International Union. "For others, it is a death sentence."
Secretary Herman said the federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration is "pursuing a three-pronged approach" toward reducing needle
sticks. The agency will require health care facilities to record all injuries
involving contaminated needles, will encourage those facilities to use needles
with protective shields and other safety features and will consider toughening
regulations designed to protect health care workers from infected blood.
The new policies were prompted by comments that the agency requested
last year from a broad range of people involved in the medical industry. A
report summarizing the comments said they "indicate that safer medical devices
are an effective and feasible method of hazard control in many instances." The
report added that the additional cost of safer devices "appears to be a small
fraction of total health care costs."
Stark's measure, co-authored by
Representative Marge Roukema, R-N.J., would amend OSHA standards by requiring
employers to use needles "with engineered sharps protections to prevent the
spread of blood-borne pathogens in their workplace."
Needles designed
for maximum safety -- some devices retract the needle into the syringe barrel or
contain sheaths that cover the needle -- have been on the market for about a
decade. Safer needles cost several times more than conventional syringes.
The bill would also establish an injury log so that the true extent of
the problem could be quantified, and create a clearinghouse for information on
new safe-needle technologies.
Karen Daley, president of the
Massachusetts Nurses Association, displayed one such "safe needle" at the news
conference, a syringe in which the needle automatically retracts after the
injection is complete.
Daley knows firsthand the dangers of traditional
needles.
In July, after drawing blood from a patient in an emergency
room, Daley pricked her finger on a misplaced needle while trying to dispose of
the syringe.
In January, she learned she had become infected with HIV
and the hepatitis C virus.
"I can't describe for you how one moment --
the moment when I reached my gloved hand over a needle box to dispose the needle
I had used to draw blood -- has devastated my life," said Daley, a nurse for 25
years. "I'd always assumed my retirement from patient care would come naturally
-- with age and deliberate planning. I never envisioned that it would be
dictated by a single moment that was preventable and beyond my control."
Union officials estimate that it will cost about
$70,000 a year for an average 300-bed hospital to comply with
the law. Overall, they say that far more money is spent caring for health care
workers who become ill from needle accidents. They also say the cost of
providing safe needles will drop considerably once they are mass-produced.
"This is not something that the budget bean counters here would waste
any time on," Stark said, dismissing the financial considerations as
"irrelevant."
Washington Bureau Chief Mark Sandalow reported
from Washington and Legal Affairs Writer Reynolds Holding reported from San
Francisco
LOAD-DATE: May 21, 1999
