Islets of Hope  diabetes civil rights laws

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This article and  the original publication PA-03-2006 were written by Lahle Wolfe; revised 12/2006

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Diabetes and civil rights law:  An overview of your legal right to equal access to  programs, benefits, opportunity, accommodations, education, and employment.  Covers legal rights to equal access to benefits, accommodations and opportunity, and the right to administer diabetes related self-care in public places and at work.  Great for anyone who wants to know what the law says about diabetes accomodations, care, and descrimination at work, in schools, and in public places. Includes comprehensive information and examples.  Covers the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Assistance.  Also, tells where and how to file discrimination complaints. IOH Publication PA-04-2006; 32 pages. Revised 12/06.

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Frequently asked questions about administering diabetes care in public and the work place

This article contains excerpts from Islets of Hope publication PA-03-2006.  You can view and print the publication in its original format at PA-03-2006.  Download free Adobe software to read our publications in .pdf format

7.  Since blood is drawn during blood sugar testing by lancets that pierce the skin, what are the health dangers and risks to me?

As long as you do not pierce your own skin with the same lancet another persons uses there is no risk of contracting a blood-borne disease.  Even if you did prick yourself on a used lancet the risk of disease transmission is not great but you should immediately call your own personal physician for advice.

Most persons with diabetes use a lancing device because they are easier to carry and cause a lot less pain than the disposable kind used in doctor’s offices.  A lancet is placed inside the lancing device which remains in an “off” position.  Unless someone purposely sets the trigger mechanism and then “fires” it, the lancet will not pierce.  If you don’t play with a lancing device, consider yourself perfectly safe. 

The amount of blood on a used lancet is not a lot.  You are more likely to come into greater quantities of HIV and hepatitis contaminants in a hospital, doctor’s office, or even on a playground.  Still, it is the personal responsibility of anyone who uses a lancing device (or syringe) to properly dispose of their sharps in a sharps or other hard container (baggies and soft plastic containers are not sufficient).  If a person uses a metal tin such as a small, used coffee tin, the container should be clearly marked that it contains medical waste.  When full, the sharps container should be taken to a sharps disposal point in your local community (i.e., fire departments often have free sharps container exchange and disposal programs).

If you see a person with diabetes tossing used lancets into the common trash, you should be concerned.  In many places it is even illegal to toss lancets into the regular trash.   A used lancet that is not in the lancing device is basically a small weapon – a short plastic stick with a long, exposed sharp needle point.  It can deeply prick anyone who stuck their hands into the same trash bin.  Even if there was no risk of disease transmission, there is always the risk of infection – and being stuck with a disposable lancet really hurts! 

If you are not comfortable talking to a person who improperly disposes of their sharps, you should report them to your human resources representative or your boss.

8.  It is well documented that injection needle users who share unclean needles are at great risk of being infected with HIV.   Doesn’t this mean that used needles from diabetes care pose the same level of risk to me?

These studies are scary and should be taken quite seriously but it is important to bear in mind that these studies are about illegal intravenous (IV) drug users and not about patients with diabetes.  Diabetic patients are not IV drug users and do not inject into a vein. 

Illegal IV drug users often share needles that have not been properly sterilized.  They also share water, dipping dirty syringes into community water before passing to the next person to be used.  Patients with diabetes use a clean needle one time and then dispose of it.  Even in the case of insulin pens which are reused, a new, sterile needle tip is attached to the pen with each use, removed after injection and thrown away.

During IV drug use, sharing unclean needles allows a direct exchange of blood from one person's body into the bloodstream of another. When a person puts a needle into a vein, s/he pulls back on the plunger to make sure that they are in a vein, and if they are, blood will enter the syringe. Some of this blood may still be in the syringe when it's given to a second person.

When a person injects insulin it is not into the vein.  They do not pull back on the plunger; they only push the plunger to inject the insulin into fatty tissue.  The entire syringe (or needle tip if a pen is being used) are then disposed of in a portable sharps container.

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