Using Insuling as a... Murder Weapon?

I just read this story on the BBC web site from last Friday, and was fairly shocked by it:

“Few would consider the diabetes treatment insulin as a weapon, but over the last 90 years that is just what it has become in a few, often high-profile cases.”

I would have never imagined something like this…

I’ve heard of that before, I think one of those crime shows had that as a story. I’m such a klutz, I draw up the insulin for my son at a table so I don’t have to walk around with a needle, I am scared I’d trip and give myself a shot lol.

This has obviously had some high profile exposure in the last few years because on CSI, they had an episode where a guy was either incapacitated or killed by an insulin injection. I also remember mention of it on some sitcom at one time. So, unfortunately it has happened. It’s kind of creepy the things people with think of to kill. Also kind of eerie how something that brings life to someone, takes it away from another.

ive heard of it before. My mother told me about it when we first found out that i was diabetic, it was probably an attempt to warn me about taking too much insulin for my food and going really low when no one is around, then again, my parents overreact sometimes.

thats probably the creepiest part. I remember saying that to myself one time when i was on shots after reading a textbook (im studying to go into forensics myself)…i remember thinking “so people can die using this stuff, but it keeps me alive, but if i dont take it it will eventually lead to death, what a double standard!”

I’ve seen news articles that mention “potentially lethal injections” of insulin, but I’ve never read anything on just how big an overdose has to be before it is really dangerous. Does anyone out there know? Sure, it’s going to depend on lots of things, but just a ballpark figure… if it takes 1000 units or even 100 units I’m not going to worry about it, but if accidentally taking a bolus of fast acting rather than slow acting at bedtime is enough to be dangerous then it should be a pretty real concern for all of us.

A friend of mine who is a nurse was transporting a diabetic patient on an insulin drip when the IV malfunctioned. If I remember correctly the patient received a couple hundred units of insulin in a very short time, and survived. Of course, if you are going to have an accident like that, having it happen with medical staff beside you while in an air ambulance already on the way to the hospital is obviously a big advantage.

I think there was also a Law and Order episode that this occured.

David,

It depends on how insulin resistant the patient is. Remember there are Type 2s who take 200 units a day. Some more.

Obviously, 200 units for someone who routinely uses that much isn’t the same as 200 units for someone who uses 25 a day.

Law and Order is such a happy show. . . . .

And don’t forget the movie Momento. Though that person had diabetes.

I would have never thought about it, until I saw the movie Panic Room. The girl stabbed the intruder with two insulin filled syringes, to knock him out.

When checking my statcounter one time I saw that someone had found my blog by googling “death by insulin”. It gave me a wierd feeling because I was wondering what exactly they were searching for.

“Law and Order” had an episode years ago where a lady offed herself by taking a high dose of insulin which was supplied to her by a euthanasia supporter. The lady who supplied the insulin was tried for murder.

They also did an episode where couples inject the female with insulin to induce a coma, apparently because the men get off having sex with a corpse-like body. In this case the guy’s wife died and he was charged with murder.

Terry

Terry

I’ve heard of this. If you really think about it, it can happen. My husband’s pancreas works fine and if I gave him a shot of mine he would get too much insulin in his blood stream and what we look at and feel as a low. If I never treated him for that and his bs fell way low that would kill him. Or that’s what my Dr used to explain it to him right after we got married 23 yearsago.

You ever watched Memento? Insulin is treated as Death by Injection. Heh heh heh.

Right Leah. That’s what I was trying to say just went the long way about it. Thanks!

I am not sure of other people, but I have heard about this more lately. I find it unbelievable actually. And NOW insulin is being used to help build bodies (growth hormone) and people have died. Crazy stuff.

That’s nothing new… it’s been going on for as long as I’ve been diabetic, and I presume much longer than that…

Sarah,
the nothing new part: the part about people using insulin as a weapon, or using it for body building? I have only been diagnosed for 4.5 years. I can honestly say I have never, ever heard of this BEFORE diagnosis. Maybe I am more sensitive to the word “insulin” than I ever was before. I am sure that it has been going on for many, many years. I think I just started noticing it here recently. Interesting how things get ignored when they really don’t pertain to you, isn’t it?