BECTON DICKINSON AND NEEDLE STICKS

Becton Dickinson (BD) is the largest medical suppliers manufacturing company

headquartered in America. BD dominates the injection market and needle shots. In

1986, Becton Dickinson acquired the privilege of patenting a newly discovered by

Charles B Mitchell. In 1988, by doing some research, Becton Dickinson finally

decided that the injection is marketed to protect the arm. The injections can actually

be used for all sizes of injection 1cc, 3 cc, 5 cc and 10 cc. But the company decided to

market a 3 cc injection to protect the arm. Injections of 3 cc syringes marketed in

1988 under the safety-lok syringe brand. The use of 3 cc injections is about half the

usual injections but despite its size, 5 cc and 10 cc syringes are preferred by the nurse

when taking blood. But since only Becton Dickinson has a patent license and the price

of the injection product is expensive, almost all nurses in the US do not use injections

with safety, including medical facility where Maryann Rockwood, who served as a

BD nurse, was assigned to take blood of patients affected by hepatitis B and AIDS

In 1992, Maryaan Rockwood nurse used 5cc syringe BD and a needle to take blood

from an AIDS-infected patient. Mrs. Rockwood works in a clinic dealing with AIDS

patients and she is in charge of taking blood from some of these patients. After taking,

he transferred the blood contaminated with AIDS to be sterilized into a tube which is

often called a vacutainer tube with rubber on the pipe that he holds with his hand. At

that time, he had an accident, his finger punctured needles contaminated with AIDS.

As a result, Rockwood was found to be HIV positive

Analysis from Societys Perspective

Society can be defined through many different factors. The simplest of all is the

general, dictionary

definition that states: P

eople in general living together in organized communities, with laws and traditions

controlling the way that they behave towards one another

. (Macmillan Dictionary, 2014)

The crucial parts in this definition are the laws and traditions that control the society.

We can easily

interpret these as Government and Culture in contemporary society. Through Culture

we have interests, task divisions and roles, and we can say that nowadays Businesses

play a big part of a

nations Culture.

In addition we can say that both Government and Business are parts of Society, while

Society is being influenced by both sectors nonetheless, creating a cycle of actions

and reactions. In this case society represents the organisations and the people under

their care. The organisations fall under either business or government sector, even

though they are societies on their own, and part of a bigger society altogether. On one
side we have the hospitals, on the other, businesses and in between them the

regulating bodies. The society that I will be talking about in this report represents all

the people involved, the business people, the government and the rest of society, the

common folk. Society has different faces. Society can be the victim; it can be the

harasser and finally the peace maker. The role it will take depends on what roles other

two parties might take. In all cases society tends to stay critical, as human nature in

itself is critical. We make the decisions on whether something is right or wrong,

whether it is good or bad, and finally we make the divisions. Academically speaking

we use critical thinking and ethical reasoning in our everyday lives (Gini, 2005), and

with the power of sociological imagination we give shape to our thoughts, ideas and

morals (Van Krieken, et al., 2006). Society will always look for actions and ways that

are benefiting for itself, and will dispose of anything that collides with its ideology.

When talking about ideologies, two main ones need to be mentioned: The first one

being consequentialism which states, as its name, that all human thoughts, morals and

ideas are directed by the outcomes of their actions. One same action can be

considered either right or wrong depending on the consequence. The second ideology

revolves around laws and moral perceptions, and is called deontology (Gini, 2005).

The case has presented us with several issues arising from the conflicts between

society, business and government. The main cause of these issues would be the AIDS

epidemic, and increased exposure of nurses to highly infectious diseases and viruses

through needle stick accidents. It has bee

n noted that during 1990s

, 80 percent of all registered injury inquiries were needle sticks. With the rising

number of patients and infected people, the Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

proposed new guidelines for health workers and nurses. As the guidelines reformation
failed, the Becton Dickinson Company that was in charge of producing almost 70

percent of all syringes and needles in the U.S. decided not to change anything about

the design of its syringes. The reason for that were the overall procedure in

engineering a new syringe and the increased cost of producing such a syringe. In

1986, the first improved syringe was patented. Soon after its announcement, Becton

Dickinson bought the patent, and started its field tests. This new syringe had a number

of disadvantages, such as limited use and higher price. The hospitals could not afford

such a syringe, so

The hospitals could not afford such a syringe, so

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they kept using the old ones. After an incident where a nurse pricked her finger with

contaminated blood, and therefore sued Becton Dickinson, OSHA finally directed that

all health workers get a free vaccine. In 1998, another company, Retractable

Technologies Inc., launched a new syringe that finally solved the problem with needle

sticks. On the negative side, the syringe could not make its way to the marketplace

because Becton Dickinson bought its place into hospitals via GPO. This move caused

thousands of deaths in the next 6 years

were often pressed for time both because of the large number of patients they cared

for and the highly variable needs and demands of these patients. In such workplace

environments, it was difficult to adhere to the guidelines recommended by the

agencies. For example, a high-risk source of needle sticks is the technique of

replacing the cap on a needle (after it has been used) by holding the cap in one hand

and inserting the needle into the cap with the other hand. OSHA guidelines warned

against this tow-handed technique of recapping and recommended instead that the cap

be placed on a surface and the nurse use a one- handed spearing technique to

replace the cap.

During the 1990s, the AIDS epidemic posed peculiarly acute dilemmas for health

workers. After routinely removing an intravenous system, drawing blood, or

delivering an injection to an AIDS patient, nurses could easily stick themselves with

the needle they were using. Rarely a day goes by in any large hospital where a needle

stick incident is not reported. In fact, needlestick injuries accounted for about 80

percent of reported occupational exposure to the AIDS virus among health care

workers.2 It was conservatively estimated in 1991 that about 64 health care workers

were infected with the AIDS virus each year as a result of needlestick injuries.AIDS

was not the only risk posed by needlestick injuries