Boy Pricked By Used Needle At School

CALHOUN COUNTY (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - One poke from a needle and a family's life has turned upside down. It has them checking their five-year old for diseases like HIV. The child's parents say he found the needle in school on the floor and it had been used.

The boy goes to the Lakeview School District in Calhoun County. He's a normal five year-old. He enjoys playing video games and riding his dirt bike. But Dakota Albrecht's mom worries what the next few months will bring.

"He's five, this could affect him for the rest of his life because of one mistake. We don't even know now what to do, we're just waiting and hoping everything comes back okay," said the boys mother, Tristan Albrecht.

Tristan says Tuesday morning, her son picked up a used diabetes testing needle. She says it was on the floor of the office at Westlake Elementary School.

Dakota pricked himself and an hour later, his kindergarten teacher found his finger bloody.

"When we picked him up, he kept saying, 'mom, my finger's hurting, it's owwie,' said Tristan.

"They're very sharp, just like a regular insulin needle," said Nurse Joyce Byers of the Borgess Center for Diabetes Care.

Byers showed Newschannel 3 where that needle should have gone. She says a sharps container is the best place so no one contacts infected blood.

"A single drop of blood can technically transmit disease," said Byers.

That's exactly what Tristan Albrecht now fears.

"Oh my God, I was terrified, I work in health care, a needle stick is something huge," said Tristan.

Since Tuesday, doctors at Battle Creek Health Systems have tested Dakota for MRSA, Hepatitis and even Aids. But accurate results will take a while.

"It could take a year, it could take six months, so now it's like a waiting game with his life," said Tristan.

A young life in jeopardy for what this family calls the school's mistake.

"A nurse should have watched this kid to make sure for my son's safety and everybody else's that that needle was taken care of," said Tristan.

A red bio-hazard sharps container should be used to dispose of used needles. It costs about $10 and the box comes with a postage label to send back to the company.

The Albrechts are working with a lawyer to handle their case. Meanwhile, the Lakeview School District declined to comment what happened because of the possibility of litigation.