Shot through the thumb, and you're to blame

[sigma7]

Scary story via onlineambulance: Free pens from the drug rep! Bad news: they're epi-pens. Worse news: nobody figures it out until someone takes a full dose to the thumb.

Have I mentioned how much I like my job lately?

Comments

[iamstillthemoon.livejournal.com]

Epi-pens??? 0.o WTF is that?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

It's a pen-sized epinephrine injector, carried by people who have serious histamine reactions to some allergen or another. Commonly carried by those who are allergic to bee stings, for instance. You feel an allergic reaction coming on, you shoot up with epinephrine (which is like adrenaline) to counter it and survive long enough to get to the hospital. If you're NOT having a reaction, shooting up can itself be very dangerous.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Here's a good pic.

Also, that's a waste of a good $62 right there.

OMG

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

My question is how in the world the woman at the front desk mistook Epi Pens for writing pens...

Owning an Epi Pen myself - it looks nothing like a writing implement...

Even if they were delivered in bulk, without a box - each Epi Pen comes in its own thick plastic canister, which prevents it from being activated while carried in a pocket or purse...

And that's not to blame the kids playing with them who were told by an adult that they were writing implements... they had no reason to believe otherwise... but how the woman at the front desk thought these were writing implements is beyond me!

Use Google images and search on "Epi Pen", and you'll come up with several photos of what they look like.

Even if she had never seen them before - and the box was poorly labeled... boggles the mind...

The capacity for human stupidity never ceases to amaze me... Doesn't surprise me anymore - but still amazes me...