Dramatic reporting?

There’s a story on MSNBC.com today about a special kind of tattoo that may be able to monitor blood glucose by acting like a mood ring – changing colors according to BG levels.

Now that’s pretty cool news.

What bothers me is that the reporter uses an eight-year-old girl who has Type 1 diabetes in the lead and at the end of the story. The lead: “Eight-year-old Julia Balobeck needs to prick her fingers so many times each day that the tips of her digits have started to turn numb and black.”

The story then goes on to explain the special tattoo, how it works, what the potential is, etc. Then there’s the last paragraph: "Julia Balobeck has her fingers crossed. ‘I just had my birthday and at my party I had to test my blood sugar five times,’ she says. ‘It would make my life a ton better if I didn’t have to prick my fingers anymore.’”

Maybe I’m missing something – and I’ve only had diabetes as an adult so that very well may be – but why would this little girl have to test so much that her finger turn “numb and black”? Why test five times during a birthday party?

Believe me, I’m not thrilled about having to check my blood glucose so often but this story seems exaggerated. Again, I may be missing something, but I just can’t figure out why this little girl would have to endure so much – and would really like to see accurate reporting. It’s bad enough without exaggerating.

Janet