<p>my friend has a well documented history of diabetes. he gives himself a shot of insulin quite often before he eats the mediocre school food. a freshman saw and reported him as "shooting up heroin or steroids". he explained that was not what he was doing to the office and was still suspended. his parents will be getting involved this just happened today. Is there anything else he can do? Has anyone else been in a similar situation?</p>
<p>I guess the school could do a drug test to prove that it was insulin. </p>
<p>But shouldn’t he have taken the insulin while in the nurse’s office? That way he could’ve avoided stuff like this…</p>
<p>Also, the freshman was kinda dumb about this… Why would someone do this at school and while in a public area?</p>
<p>The student should have a treatment plan on file in the nurse’s office for his medical condition. Ds does for asthma, even though he never uses meds at school. If your friend doesn’t, he/his parents created the problem. Still, a drug test will clear this up. I’m sure this won’t stay on his permanent record or anything.</p>
<p>r school doesnt have a nurse the office was informed of his medical history though and that he takes insulin i guess he took this to mean he was responsible for his own medication</p>
<p>All injections (except maybe an emergency epi-pen for extreme allergic reaction) should be done in the nurses office with the nurse supervising. All meds are supposed to be dispensed by the nurse only.</p>
<p>oops–delay in post. If the school doesn’t have a nurse/health center, I’m sure there are other official procedures to follow. Are students supposed to report to the office when sick? Most schools have a very strict policy which prohibits students from carrying medicine and needles on their person.</p>
<p>we dont have a nurse</p>
<p>Even if the school lacks a nurse (which is ridiculous), there must be policies in place regarding the possession and dispensing of meds.</p>
<p>At most schools students are not permitted to self-medicate except for emergencies. Even if your school doesn’t have a nurse’s office, there should be some health station. Or the student should arrange to go to an admin’s office or other designated area for his injection - - but shooting up (even insulin) in the cafeteria or other public area is understandably prohibited.</p>
<p>Our school district allows kids to use Tylenol, Advil, inhalers on own. It would all depend on each district’s policy.</p>
<p>he was in the bathroom it wasnt really public (not in the middle of the cafeteria). anyway whether he should have done it or not is irrelevent he did it. any advice on what to do now.</p>
<p>sidenote: this was on fmylife.com today.</p>
<p>At the high schools where my kids attend, none of them were permitted to take tylenol, antihistamines or any otc or prescription meds on their own. There was a documented procedure that had to be followed for any meds. They had to be given to the school nurse with written instructions and doctors signature for their taking, and the student had to report to the nurse to do this. In absence of the nurse, a teacher or staff member was designated with this responsibility. Under no circumstance could a kid have a meds on him except enroute to give them to the nurse. I would think that most schools have some such regulations.</p>
<p>Also anyone who is getting regular prescription meds like insulin should have had some meeting with the school regarding taking those meds, and the process that should be followed. </p>
<p>What to do first, is to find out specifically what the rules were for taking medicines at the school. If there is a vagueness about those rules, an argument can be made, however, if it is ignorance, all I can think of to do is for the student and parents to meet with the school and apologize profusely and promise to follow the school guidelines on medical procedures.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m wondering is, if he’s giving himself insulin in the bathroom, what’s he doing with the needles afterwards? He needs to be giving it to himself where there are proper places for disposal.</p>
<p>tickytock- that was my first thought.
I’m truly addicted to reading that site.</p>
<p>The student should have a 504 plan (under the Americans with Disabilities Act) that clearly spells out the accommodations in place for him to safely administer/be administered insulin in the school (including how to handle a hypoglycemic reaction). The American Diabetes Association actully has a website with guidelines for schools, which includes: </p>
<p>“If the child needs an insulin injection(s) during school hours, an adult and back-up adult should be trained to give her insulin injections (and/or supervise her as she administers her own injection).” and “If the parent or child request it, the school should provide a location in which the child can check her blood glucose or take insulin privately (but still with adult supervision, if needed).”</p>
<p>Clearly, in this case, the parent(s) and child need to meet with the school administrtion and school district medical personnel to create a workable and safe plan. This can be done even if there’s no on-site school nurse. If I were the parent, I’d be on the phone tomorrow morning to set this up – and contacting the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) for advocacy and advice if I ran into problems.</p>
<p>I always thought kids with diabetes were taught to take care of themselves; I think the school is treating him unfairly. Does he wear a medical alert bracelet? The school should know that he has diabetes.</p>
<p>I am surprised at the assumptions most posters here are making about use of insulin by kids with diabetes. If he has diabetes and uses a syringe to inject insulin (as opposed to an insulin pump), he needs to inject himself with insulin every time he eats and also to correct for high glucose, which could affect his performance at school or even present a serious health risk. No high school age kid with diabetes would expect or want a nurse or anyone else to do it for/to him; it is a simple, quick, unobtrusive procedure, and he is well trained and experienced in injecting himself, without a doubt, as he must be to survive. Insulin is life support, it is not optional. If he is on the standard regimen of using short-acting insulin during the day, he would not only need insulin whenever he eats, in an amount corresponding to his carbohydrate intake, he would also have to take the insulin at the time he eats. It could even be dangerous to take it in an office and then walk back to where he was eating – it starts working immediately. Kids (and adults) with diabetes typically inject themselves with insulin where they are eating, not in a bathroom, which is unsanitary; there are small devices for discarding sharps. His parents, if they haven’t already (which would be unlikely), should contact the school and discuss it with those in charge. Perhaps he could compromise by using an insulin pen rather than filling a syringe, which is a little more discrete. He also should be free to test his blood sugar in the classroom. Someone at the school should be trained to use glucagon in a low blood sugar emergency. His teachers should be informed of his diabetes and know who to contact about glucagon.</p>
<p>If the kid has diabetes severe enough to require injectable insulin, then the insulin shot is ,in fact, emergency treatment for an urgent life threatening condition </p>
<p>Not all schools have nurses or even faculty/administration able to deal with the medical needs of students.</p>
<p>This is America. The poor get $crewed. Schools unable to impart simple literacy can hardly be expected to handle medical emergencies.</p>
<p>Everyone with type 1 diabetes uses insulin – because type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the insulin producing cells (beta cells) are destroyed. So it is not a question of “severity” – for those with type 1 diabetes, insulin is life support, pure and simple.
I suspect that there is more to the story here than meets the eye. Otherwise the school is in for a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act.</p>
<p>I presume you are talking about high school, and not college. As long as the school has been informed of the medication in advance, there should be no problem. If the school had a problem with the kid injecting himself, they should have discussed it a lot earlier. What if the kid has asthma and carried around an epipen? I wouldn’t want my kid on the ball field waiting for someone to run to the nurses office and back.</p>
<p>If it were in college, there shouldn’t be an issue as long as the kid has a doctors prescription/note.</p>