The Added Stresses of Potentially Heat-Damaged Supplies

Wendy is a mother whose son depends upon lifesaving medicines working effectively. However her story also indicates that heat doesn't just affect the medicine itself, but the accuracy of the tools involved in the process managing her son's condition: 

"We recently had an issue with a medical supply that we receive through mail order.  My son is a T1 diabetic. For and treatment of this disease, he needs to monitor his blood sugar constantly, sometimes 10 + times a day.  To do this he uses test strips in a glucometer.  The mail order pharmacy told us via phone message that they would begin processing the order, but did not say when the order would ship.  The test strips, which are supposed to be stored at a temperature range of 40 - 86 degrees, were left in our metal mailbox in the middle of the summer during a heat wave.  On top of that, this was done when nobody was home to get the mail for 2 days.  

 "If the test strips are inaccurate, they could indicate that  his blood sugar is low and he wouldn't administer enough insulin.  Or, the opposite could occur where the test strips show his blood sugar is high, and he might give too much insulin.  Either way could land him in the hospital.

"I called both the pharmaceutical company and the mail order pharmacy to try to get these replaced.  Neither would replace them.  They offered some ideas of how to check the test strips to see if they're accurate, but I explained that one test strip may be affected, while another in the same vial may not.  Also, now we're wasting test strips that we pay quite a lot for.  The pharmacist at the mail order pharmacy rationalized that they wouldn't replace them because the 3 month supply cost about $1,000.  I reminded him that our insurance wasn't free, nor was our supply.  I also pointed out that if the test strips are inaccurate and my son ends up in the hospital, that would also be quite expensive, not to mention the potential cost of his life.  

 "This type of worry causes a great deal of stress and anxiety.   Living with diseases such as Type 1 diabetes causes an immense amount of anxiety as it is.  A patient with illnesses and diseases should not have to add to their stress by using potentially damaged and defective medicine and supplies.  I suggested to the mail order pharmacy that they implement a system to notify customers of when medications and supplies ship and when they are delivered.  The last shipment we received came with such a notification through email.  Still, that's not sufficient.  A phone call or text in addition might be helpful as well.  It would also be helpful to be able to pick up medications and supplies as needed should the mail order pharmacy have difficulty delivering in a reliable fashion."