California Passes Rectal Injection Bill For Teachers

[Modern School]

If the headline doesn’t make it perfectly clear, crazy California has passed perhaps the looniest piece of legislation ever. SB161, which asks teachers to rectally inject diastat (valium) into students who are having epileptic seizures, just passed the state assembly on a vote of 47-16, with 17 abstentions.

Fortunately, teachers and other staff may volunteer to give the injections, but are not required to. I say fortunately, because the instructions say that only personnel trained by medical professionals should administer the medication. The instructions require the medicine to be injected rectally while the patient is in the midst of a seizure, something that would be difficult even for trained personnel and that could easily result in mistakes that harm the student.

Click here for a demonstration video on how to administer Diastat

Refuse and Resist
All teachers should refuse to volunteer. They should refuse because this is a job for trained medical personnel like nurses, who the state should be adequately funding at every school site. They should refuse because it sets them up for liability should they make a mistake. They should refuse because it is not in their job description or training to strip students publicly, stick things into their rectums, and have to maintain the order and discipline of their remaining 30-35 students while they do so. And they should refuse out of solidarity with their nurse colleagues who have been pushed out of the schools as a result of budget cuts.

The nurses unions oppose the legislation, not only because it encourages the downsizing of nursing staffs (if teachers can administer medicine, then why do we need nurses?), but also because it is dangerous for students. Sandre Swanson (Dem., Oakland) implored his colleagues to vote no, saying they should “work immediately to fund nurses at schools,” according to the Sacramento Bee. Unfortunately, his Democratic colleagues ignored his pleas and voted for the bill.

Modern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/california-passes-rectal-injection-bill.html

[jwirr]

1. My daughter has seizures regularly. This law is needed to allow

teachers to give the needed medications if the seizures are too long. By the time it is necessary for the rectal valium there is no time to call 9ll or wait for some professional to show up. It is done only in an emergency. Most seizures do not last that long but just in case care providers usually provide a handy device to all care providers. MN has a law that requires all persons who would dispense medications to be trained. I would assume that is what California is doing. Without the Valium the seizure can kill one in 20 to 45 minutes (those are the guidelines we use for my daughter). I have no medical training and I have been dispensing medication, inserting feeding tubes and a whole lot of other things that most people think only a professional can do - in reality all it takes is someone with brains. Our special ed teachers do a lot of things that most teachers would not do. In my book that is why they are special.

[Mojorabbit]

3. I am a retired nurse

and it seems to me that it would be better to have a school nurse perform this task. There is a real risk to delicate tissues if this is not done correctly and it should not be forced on teachers to do something they are not trained to do. If they insert the medication and the child has side effects or injury they would probably end up in court.

[jwirr]

4. If there is a nurse. My daughter goes to a small day activity center

that has 35 clients. There is no nurse and they are 10 miles from the nearest hospital. I suppose this does not happen in more populated areas. The valium is a simple suppository that parents have been using for various reasons for children for ages. I do not see how this could hurt anyone. As I said I have been doing it for over 45 years. No injuries. Same with the feeding tube. I took care of my daughter for 45 years in the home - I had to learn how to take care of her. In that 45 years she has needed a valium suppository a few times. Long drawn out seizures to not happen that often.

What I see happening if we are going to use these people as a jobs program is that the cost for their community based care is going to skyrocket until they will push them back into the institutions. Our DAC cannot afford a nurse on duty when most of the time there would be no need for their services.

[saras]

2. Easily one-third of the teachers I ever encountered shouldn't be trusted with a needle

Not evil, just not their strong point. If their skills were there instead of teaching, they wouldn't have been teachers. Why not require them to be weightlifters too? Lots of people can lift weights, and you never know when a teacher might have to cart an unconscious kid around.

[jwirr]

5. The valium we use is a suppository - no needle. You know the

kind of thing you give you baby when it is constipated.

[saras]

7. Less fun, but safer. Does a suppository really work fast enough to stop a seizure?

[formercia]

11. The Colon absorbs drugs very quickly

It can be very dangerous if not done properly. It has even been used as a method of Assassination.

Not something to do for recreational purposes.


An injection would work faster, but try finding a Vein when someone is thrashing around on the Floor.

[jwirr]

13. Yeah, she really is moving around. I would not want to use a needle

on her.

[jwirr]

12. I was warned that there was a chance that it would not work fast

enough but I have been living with her possible immediate death for years. At least it is a chance. We do not need them that often so it is an emergency issue with the hospital so far away.

[Starry Messenger]

6. This is a horrible law.

I am trained to teach ceramics, not to stick stuff into students with delicate medical issues.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Would you administer an epi pen?

Which is designed for non-professional use?

[provis99]

9. every Republican who voted for rectal injection should be anal probed.

[krispos42]

10. They should be used as practice dummies, maybe

Can't there be some sort of epi-pen for this instead? I mean, if an injection with an epi-pen goes awry, you have a needle stick and some blood. If you mess up somebody's colon, that has seriously high infection potential.

[jwirr]

14. I suspect that it was parents and their doctors who asked for this

law. Rethugs just happened to go along with them. Without the law the teacher or other care provider may just have to stand there and watch the person die. Most of these persons will be in special ed rooms not in the mainstream. Special ed addresses many types of illness within their classroom.

[Starry Messenger]

15. Democrats voted for it too.

I'm looking at you Jerry Hill. X(

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. I was expecting mugshots and ankle bracelets first. But I'm not surprised.

When I read about the Teachscape (360 degree classroom) camera I realized that nothing was off the table.