diabetic mother kicked out of McDonalds for using insulin

[E.Beth]

....honestly going into the bathroom for doing injections is probably not better to do what with cleanliness and all that. Plus if her injector is like my brothers it looks like a tan pen that you poke yourself with.

Also as a side note, low blood sugar/hypoglycemia can lead to coma, seizures and death. It can also make a person seem drunk too as they can get pretty out of it. That is why it is so important to have your med bracelet or necklace on at all times.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2412733/Diabetic-mother-kicked-McDonalds-injecting-insulin.html

Quote:

A diabetic mum-of-two was ordered to leave a McDonald’s restaurant for injecting herself with insulin - after staff accused her of being on drugs.

Sarah Pike, 36, ordered a Big Mac from the fast-food chain last Friday and administered insulin to reduce her blood sugar level before tucking into her meal.

But when staff spotted her injecting herself they told her to leave the premises because they believed she was using hard drugs.

Mrs Pike, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, said: 'This was probably the most humiliating experience of my life and something like this has never happened to me before.

'I was shocked. I am Type 1 so I need to use insulin before eating meals each day, and I kept saying the pen could not be tampered with but they wouldn’t believe me.

'There were children in the restaurant at the time and they do not understand diabetes and what it means to me.'

Mrs Pike has now received an apology from McDonalds after she was booted out of the Bridge Street restaurant in Banbury.

As a Type 1 diabetic, she has to inject herself with insulin four times a day and monitor what food she eats.

She added: 'I have been diabetic for 13 years and I think there is a general misunderstanding of what the condition means.

'Some friends were saying that I should have gone to the toilets or somewhere private to do my injections but that isn’t the point.

'I don’t see why I should have to do that when this is something that is a day-to-day experience for me.
Enlarge McDonalds Restaurant on Bridge Street in Banbury, where a diabetic mum-of-two was booted out for injecting herself w

'No understanding': McDonalds Restaurant on Bridge Street in Banbury, where a diabetic mum-of-two was booted out for injecting herself

'I think more should be done to help educate everyone about the condition. My mum is really disgusted about it all.'

McDonalds yesterday apologised to Mrs Pike for the blunder.

A spokesperson said: 'We strive to create a friendly atmosphere in our restaurants and sincerely apologise to Ms Pike for any misunderstanding.'

There are 2.9 million people living in the country with diabetes and there are 850,000 people thought to be undiagnosed.

Type 1 diabetes accounts for ten to 15 per cent of all people with the condition and if they do not inject enough insulin through the day it can lead to a state called hyperglycemia.

[Entropic Marionetta]

Maybe she should have
a) Used the insulin in the bathroom
b) Explained it to the staff beforehand.

[fairy-phoenix]

How ignorant of those people to refuse to listen to her explanation about the pen, which holds her insulin but also not believe her entirely.

[Elraine Figarette]

Umeko the Lamb

Maybe she should have
a) Used the insulin in the bathroom
b) Explained it to the staff beforehand.

It wouldn't be sanitary to inject herself in the bathroom, and she shouldn't have to explain herself to the staff. They were pretty ignorant about the whole thing. Unless I'm very mistaken, an insulin injection doesn't look anything like what a drug user would inject themselves with. I believe also that you inject insulin into your thigh or stomach, not your arm like a drug user.

[Ratttking]

Quote:

Some friends were saying that I should have gone to the toilets or somewhere private to do my injections but that isn’t the point.

Yeah, actually, that is the point. With the exceptions of emergency procedures such as CPR and the Heimlich maneuver there is no need for a medical procedure to be conducted in a dining area. So what if she has to do it every day? Wound dressings need to be changed daily, but no one would think of doing them at a table in a restaurant.

[Honey of the South]

This is what's used to inject insulin:


This is what drug(heroin) users use:


Do you see the difference?! If you do, then you're smarter than the McDonald's employees. The way this woman was treated kinda pisses me off because my uncle has type 1 diabetes.

[Ratttking]

Elraine Figarette

Umeko the Lamb

Maybe she should have
a) Used the insulin in the bathroom
b) Explained it to the staff beforehand.

It wouldn't be sanitary to inject herself in the bathroom, and she shouldn't have to explain herself to the staff. They were pretty ignorant about the whole thing. Unless I'm very mistaken, an insulin injection doesn't look anything like what a drug user would inject themselves with. I believe also that you inject insulin into your thigh or stomach, not your arm like a drug user.

Are you implying that the McDonald's dining area is a sterile environment? LOL. As long as she swabs her skin with alcohol before injecting as she should it doesn't matter if she does it in the bathroom. While in her case she is using a pre-filled pen-type injector, the regular type of small-gauge hypodermic needle used by many diabetics is exactly the type preferred by junkies - who inject anywhere they can find a good vein if they're beyond the point of just "skin-popping."

[Kai-Shan Valandria]

Good. Keep your toilet habits private, it's manners and common sense not to do that s**t in front of others. I don't want to see you shooting up, breastfeeding, using suppositories, picking your nose, scratching your balls, or whatever else in public. You can go to your car, your home, a bathroom, or a changing room and not be unduly inconvenienced.

Also, lulz at a diabetic eating at McDonald's. Lulz at ANYONE being stupid enough to eat there, it's bad for you. If you're going to eat s**t food, at least go somewhere where it might actually be worth it.

edit: And what about the people who faint at the sight of of a needle?

[Lord aKHAANaton]

Elraine Figarette

Umeko the Lamb

Maybe she should have
a) Used the insulin in the bathroom
b) Explained it to the staff beforehand.

It wouldn't be sanitary to inject herself in the bathroom, and she shouldn't have to explain herself to the staff. They were pretty ignorant about the whole thing. Unless I'm very mistaken, an insulin injection doesn't look anything like what a drug user would inject themselves with. I believe also that you inject insulin into your thigh or stomach, not your arm like a drug user.

So if someone is injecting themselves we're supposed to assume it's for medical reasons?

[La Veuve Zin]

Insulin comes in both vials (requiring your typical needle-and-syringe kit) and cartridges that fit in a pen-looking thingy. It's always injected subcutaneously (into a pinch of skin,) never into a vein. When you're diabetic, insulin can become such a part of your routine you forget that not everyone does it. I don't blame this woman for not thinking to hide in the bathroom or mention it to the staff.

You know what kind of people do try to hide their needle use from public view? People injecting things that don't have a clearly printed manufacturer's label that reads freaking INSULIN.

I know you don't need a high school diploma to work at McDonald's, but come on, there's a ******** Babysitter's Club novel about type 1 diabetes.

[Elraine Figarette]

Lord aKHAANaton

Elraine Figarette

Umeko the Lamb

Maybe she should have
a) Used the insulin in the bathroom
b) Explained it to the staff beforehand.

It wouldn't be sanitary to inject herself in the bathroom, and she shouldn't have to explain herself to the staff. They were pretty ignorant about the whole thing. Unless I'm very mistaken, an insulin injection doesn't look anything like what a drug user would inject themselves with. I believe also that you inject insulin into your thigh or stomach, not your arm like a drug user.

So if someone is injecting themselves we're supposed to assume it's for medical reasons?

No, but if you look at what they're using and are in possession of a small amount of working brain cells, you could tell that an insulin shot is not heroin.

[AnaI Crackers]

My grandma uses needles to inject her insulin not pins. I don't think the bathroom is that unsanitary to where you can't step inside a stall, and inject yourself. It's not like she had to rub the tip of her pen on the ring of the toilet.

[David2074]

People get funny and make assumptions when it comes to any needle medications.
My first thought was the lady should have dosed in her car before going in to the McDonalds but the obvious answer to that is she may have walked there or gone by bus.

Sort or related to the weirdness around needles ...
I have a prescription for a med I periodically inject.
A couple of days ago I went back to Fred Meyer to purchase more syringes. The pharmacist informed me that by law they could not sell them to me without a prescription.
I pointed out how I had been using them for over a year and had purchased them from that very counter without a prescription as well as at other places. She insisted all syringes required a prescription.
I live in a semi-rural area. I pointed out I can go to the local feed stores and purchase syringes no problem. She said something about maybe they are not sterile. I pointed out they are plus that an illegal drug user probably would not care. She then mumbled something about maybe it was for insurance purposes (which sounded like made up BS)
Anyway, she was polite but I could see it was going nowhere so left.

Drove a few blocks to Walgreens (where I had also purchased them before) and bought my syringes with no problem at all.

[Shama_okami]

A) she could have done it somewhere private.
B) the staff could have listened to her and understood it was just insulin.
C) you just know people are going to blame mcdonalds for this as if it were a corporate wide mandate to kick out insulin users.

[rawnie14]

If that would have caused a potential problem then i don't understand why she couldn't have injected herself at home instead of doing it at a public facility just so that she could have avoided an embarrassing problem.