VANCOUVER – An investigation has now been launched by Northern Health after a six-year-old girl was possibly exposed to HIV during a routine vaccination earlier this month.
The six-year-old girl’s father, who wishes to remain anonymous, told a Prince George radio station that the girl was at the Fort St. James Health Unit for a booster shot. But the father says when the nurse gave his daughter the needle, it went into the child’s arm and then into the nurse’s hand by accident. When the nurse drew the needle back through the child’s arm there was blood exchanged.
The father says he was horrified to learn the nurse is HIV positive. Now the little girl has to undergo testing for several months.
Dr. Sandra Allison, Northern Health’s chief medical health officer, told Global News that while they cannot give specific details about the case, they have launched an internal investigation.
“We expressed our deepest regrets and apologies to the family about this unfortunate incident,” says Allison.
“All the measures that need to be taken are being put into place right now.”
The College of Registered Nurses and the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons do have professional standards and guidelines for staff with blood-borne communicable diseases conducting exposure-prone procedures. However, that does not include administering injections.
They do have an ethical responsibility to their patient that if they are performing procedures with instruments such as needles that they need to be aware of their blood-borne pathogen status and if necessary, not perform the procedure.
“We expect all of our healthcare workers to follow these guidelines,” says Allison.
She adds that they are doing everything they can, and within Northern Health, they take patient issues very seriously.
“We have great confidence in our healthcare workers and we provide great care in the north,” says Allison. “Situations like this are extremely rare.”
It is not known if the nurse is still working at this time.
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