First responder mistakenly tells mother not to use an expired Epi-Pen on her dying son.

[pnwmom]

Please remember: if you need an Epi-Pen, an expired Epi-Pen is better than nothing. In these situations, every minute counts -- and the mother had nothing to lose by trying an Epi-Pen that was past-date. If it hadn't worked, they could still have used a new one on him when it became available.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Allergies/college-freshman-peanut-allergy-dies-eating-cookie/story?id=18723777

He and his friend were out driving and bought cookies. Groezinger- Fitzpatrick's friend ate one first. The friend said he didn't taste any hint of peanut.

SNIP

Within minutes the teen was home; it was about 6:30 that evening, and he was doubled over and turning black and blue, his mother said. "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," he had said. He hadn't unpacked yet so his mom couldn't find his Epi-Pen -- an epinephrine autoinjector. She had one in her cupboard but it had expired two months earlier. First responders told her over the phone that she shouldn't use it.

A fire chief who lived next door brought over an Epi-Pen, which was administered to the teen. (Later, his doctor told his mother she could have used the expired pen, but couldn't say whether it would have helped him.)

Once at the hospital, 15 people tag-teamed to perform CPR on the dying teen. For two hours, they tried to revive him.

SNIP

[bettyellen]

1. and - you can die from allergic reactions. I thought anyone with an allergic kid and an epi pen...

would have been told or heard this somewhere. My jaw dropped to read the Mom had no idea. Sad.
If your child has a medical condition, it would be smart to study up on it- and ask the doctor questions.

[pnwmom]

2. He was a young adult who hadn't been living at home and hadn't unpacked yet.

She couldn't find his Epi-Pen, but she found an older one in the house. It was only 2 months past date so it's very unfortunate that she was advised not to try it.

[bettyellen]

9. but he had this condition as a kid- and she never apparently was informed it could be fatal.

Which is ether a HUGE oversight or she wasn't listening. She said she had no idea. Scary!

[pnwmom]

11. She must have been in some kind of denial -- either in general

or maybe in the shock of his death.

[bettyellen]

15. she flat out says she didn't know. which would lead me to believe she didn't listen to doctors.

Or he had negligent pediatricians for years, assuming she would know? Very odd you'd get an epi pen for your kid, with instructions to carry it everywhere.... and not have a clue why.

"I didn't know you can die from nut allergies. I feel foolish," she said.

[pnwmom]

17. But it wouldn't really have mattered, since she wasn't there when he ate the cookie.

He's been living away at college and ate it on the way home.

[bettyellen]

19. I don't want to put down the Mom, but if she was informed... I bet she'd have extra epis at home

and I bet she would have known what to do, have benedryl at the ready tooo...and not listen to the idiot who told her not to use the epi. Sounds like she panicked and had no idea it could ever have been life or death. How that knowledge escaped her all these years is a mystery. Poor woman.

[Life Long Dem]

26. She said it

She is a fool.

[bettyellen]

27. As was the guy on the phone saying not to use the epi pen. Fucking idiot.

[Life Long Dem]

28. Yep

Those are the words I would have used. He is an idiot to even say something like that.

[elehhhhna]

40. i'd have ignored that advice, regardless

that mom must have been wigged out

[Brickbat]

3. He had been tested and reacted enough to be prescribed an Epi-Pen, and the mom didn't know a

reaction could kill him? Terribly tragic -- and odd. So sad.

[unblock]

4. i rather suspect she did know, but this is the sort of thing you say when in such shock.

i bet she meant to say "i never imagined this could actually happen to us" and it just came out wrong.

[pnwmom]

6. yeah, I think so, too. The son knew about the risk, so she must have. It just wasn't real to her

until it was.

[bettyellen]

10. ""I didn't know you can die from nut allergies. I feel foolish," she said."

Hard to believe, but there it is, clear as day.

[pnwmom]

14. Yeah, it's hard to understand how her son could know but she didn't. But she didn't

feed him the cookie. He's the one who decided to take a chance on unlabeled food.

[bettyellen]

18. super unfortunate. I almost choked to death at work because I didn't know the gestures...

on the poster! I was trying to demonstrate to a coworker that I needed a Heimlich by pointing and slapping my own back and I *think* my eyes were bugging out and I looked very scared and serious- but my coworker thought I was goofing around. She just watched me in amusement while I started to black out. And them pow, big lump of croissant burst out and shot into her trash can.
She told me I better learn the gesture, yikes.

[pnwmom]

20. And your coworker better learn that not everyone knows the gesture!!!

Instead of assuming you were goofing around, she should have USED HER WORDS and asked you.

[bettyellen]

25. Oh man, she just tilted her head and giggled. And it started to go dark around the edges for me....

and I felt really stupid because I didn't realize it would feel like that- that no air could come through my nose and Id start to pass out.
Or that it would be so bad so fast. Quite a shock that I could die from a too big bite of a croissant.

[pnwmom]

33. There's a similar problem with drowning victims. They don't shout out and wave their arms

because they're too busy drowning. They just usually quietly sink down, after several efforts to get breaths. If they're able to shout for help they're not yet drowning.

So we observers have to be more observant and offer help if there's any chance someone's in trouble.

(I'm so glad your helper finally caught on! What a scare that must have been!)

[bettyellen]

39. Oh she didn't catch on- Somehow I huffed that wad out of my throat all by myself! The look on her

face was priceless!
And yeah, I couldn't talk at all... not what I expected.

[pnwmom]

41. Thank goodness your huffing worked then! I've heard of people self-administering

the Heimlich. Maybe that would also alert someone to a choker's problem.

[bettyellen]

43. I was trying to self heimlich, by hitting my own back- hoping in vain she would join in.

But I just sort of huffed big time, and it blew! Thank god!
i think there's another way to do that. Since I have a narrow windpipe, I'm going to go look that up now!!

[pnwmom]

5. The son did know -- and yet that one time he decided to take a chance.

I hope that at least some people who minimize these things will learn from this -- these allergies can be deadly. The parents who seem obsessed with their children's allergies aren't being "paranoid" -- they're just being reasonable, given their circumstances.

[LisaL]

23. Most people with allergies don't die from them.

I suspect that's what she meant by "she didn't know he could die."
Obviously she knew he had an allergy.

[MNBrewer]

7. Very sad story all around on this one :(

[Chuuku Davis]

8. Mom

Was stupid
May not have helped

Stressful situations cause folks to lock up

[pnwmom]

12. But the first responder gave her POOR advice. The responder shouldn't have "locked up."

[REP]

13. Also, expired Albuterol (rescue asthma inhalers) are safe to use past expiration date

My doctor told me this. Of course, a fresh one is best, but he told me that as long as there was still medicine in it, an expired inhaler was safe and still effective, even if it was two years old (why I had such an old inhaler instead of a new one is another story).

[pnwmom]

16. Good to know. Some pills can go "bad" so I can see why people would hesitate.

But when someone's dying, people should know that an old rescue inhaler or epi-pen is better than nothing.

[nobodyspecial]

24. What pills go bad?

[bettyellen]

31. check out post #29, located 3-4 posts below this for links and info

[nobodyspecial]

32. Yeah, I posted it

Tetracycline was the only one indicated that it went bad and that's debatable. At most, you may lose some effectiveness. And most remained at 90%, which is more than adequate. And, yes, I take expired meds all of the time.

[bettyellen]

38. ha ha, well then- THANK YOU!! and.....

DERP!

[winter is coming]

36. There's writing on the epi-pen's case to the effect of discard after

such-and-such a date or sooner if the liquid is discolored. I'm surprised no one involved knew that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Of my

Here is a little secret I learned in Mexican EMS. Those newly expired meds are almost as powerful, if not just as good. There is a window before they become dangerous or ineffective. The window is built in.

[pnwmom]

44. That makes sense. Thanks. n/t

[countryjake]

22. This is so terribly sad.

Also hard on everyone involved...there's no way to really say whether that expired injection could have saved him.

I feel so sorry for his mother and his friend that he ate the cookie with, too.

[nobodyspecial]

29. Expiration dates on most medicines meaningless

From Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide:
Most of what is known about drug expiration dates comes from a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years. What they found from the study is 90% of more than 100 drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, were perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date.

A rare exception to this may be tetracycline, but the report on this is controversial among researchers.

Excluding nitroglycerin, insulin, and liquid antibiotics, most medications are as long-lasting as the ones tested by the military.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

Prescription drugs retained their potency for as long as 40 years after expiration date, an analysis of 14 different compounds showed.

Overall 12 (86%) of the compounds tested at concentrations at least 90% of the labeled amount. Three compounds had concentrations that exceeded labeled amounts, and in two cases laboratory tests showed the compounds had less than 90% of the labeled concentration.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/35214

Studies highlight debate over drug expiration dates
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2006-12-17/news/0612160536_1_drug-industry-expiration-dates-pills

[Chellee]

34. Thank you so much.

This is really good to know.

Epi-pens are really expensive, especially now that they have gone to the dual packs. It is so frustrating to have to buy two of something that you hope you never have to use and then to have them expire in a year, and have to pay for it all over again. Why can't I just get ONE and then if I need to use it, get another one? But no, you have to buy two.

I know its rotten to whine about it. I have to have one. No matter how much they cost, its better than dying. But damn, let me choose to buy them one at a time please.

[pnwmom]

45. This is really useful info. Thanks! n/t

[Agony]

30. if you have an auto-injector, wear it, don't pack it.

and use the practice injector with your family or friends if you rely on epinephrine to survive shock...

[pnwmom]

35. Good advice -- but most 19 year olds probably wouldn't take it --

especially the ones who don't carry purses. It was hard enough for me to teach my sons to take their wallets.

[winter is coming]

37. There are small carrying cases that you can thread through a belt.

By the time this kid reached adulthood, the "always have the epi-pen with you" habit should have been well-ingrained.

[pnwmom]

42. Yes, it's a terrible shame. He probably hadn't had an incident in a long time

and got too lax.

Sometimes people grow out of allergies, too (though I wouldn't ever chance it with peanuts). Maybe he was beginning to think he had.