Father, Son Say NH Hospital Exposed Them To HIV

NASHUA, NH (CBS) - A Nashua man claims a nurse at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center injected him with a needle that was previously used on an HIV infected patient.

"That was the dumbest thing. I would never, ever treat anybody like that," Eugene Devoyd said.

Last November, Devoyd, 85, was admitted to the hospital for issues related to his diabetes. While there, Devoyd's son, Chris, says a nurse told the family that the needle used to give Eugene insulin had been used on another patient with HIV.

"It takes a lot out of you when something like this happens. And, it's shocking when it happens," Chris said.

Chris says his father's doctor admitted that a mistake was made, but then changed his story.

"He said they used the same needle. Then he gets a phone call, walks away, and then he comes back and says no, they changed the needle," Chris said.

Chris claims he requested all of his dad's medical records, only to receive medical information for another patient. Finally, he received the correct records in which a physician wrote the following:

"Another patient who has a diagnosis of HIV had insulin administered with an insulin pen. The needle from the pen was removed by the nurse, but inadvertently, the same pen with a different needle was used to inject Mr. Devoyd with insulin."

Now, Chris says his father is taking HIV antiviral drugs and both he, and Eugene, are awaiting the results of HIV blood tests after Chris pricked himself with one of his dad's needles while administering insulin to him at home.

"Just put some type of protocols in place so this doesn't happen to anybody else," Chris said.

Southern New Hampshire Medical Center released a statement saying:

"Southern New Hampshire Medical Center is committed to providing the highest standards of quality care and safety. Due to federal and state confidentiality laws and our utmost commitment to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss individual treatment at our facility. If a potential issue arises, it would receive prompt attention, as well as a quality review, to determine all factors and to identify opportunities for improvement and corrective actions, as warranted. Southern New Hampshire Medical Center has a long standing record of delivering high quality, safe patient care, as demonstrated by our publicly reported measures. What sets apart high performing organizations is our commitment to reporting errors, analyzing the cause of the errors, and then implementing corrective action to prevent those errors from recurring. We embrace this philosophy, thereby aspiring to continuously improving our quality and safety outcomes."