Baxter International announced three separate nationwide recalls of intravenous solutions on the same day, each over the potential presence of foreign particles in sealed bags. Two of the actions involve fiberglass. The third involves stainless steel. All three products are administered intravenously or run through a machine connected to a patient's bloodstream, which is why regulators treat particles in these solutions as a serious defect rather than a cosmetic flaw.
Together, the recalls reach providers and distributors in seventeen states, and one of them reaches into private homes. The recalled lot of 70% Dextrose Injection is used to compound parenteral nutrition, the intravenous feeding that sustains people whose digestive systems cannot absorb food. Baxter told homecare facilities that used the lot to contact their patients directly, tell them to stop using the solutions, and replace them with bags compounded without the affected product.
