Possible Medication Tampering Probed : Health: Two women at a nursing facility receive a drug that renders them nearly unconscious. They have since recovered and authorities are investigating the incident.

County health department and sheriffs’ investigators are looking into the possibility of medication tampering that left two patients at a Lomita nursing facility nearly unconscious from dangerously low blood sugar on Friday.

The patients, both women undergoing intravenous antibiotic treatment at Casa Colino-Peninsula Rehabilitation Center, apparently received an insulin-like drug that brought their blood sugar levels so low that paramedics had to rush them to a hospital emergency room for resuscitation, according to officials involved in the case.

Both patients belong to the Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization, which has launched its own investigation. The patients are now in good condition and are receiving treatment for their infections at another nursing facility, according to Kaiser spokeswoman Lynn Brassfield.

Peninsula is a 48-bed skilled nursing facility that provides short-term care to patients who are too sick to be treated at home but not sick enough to be hospitalized. It differs from a nursing home, which usually has long-term, mostly elderly patients.

The women were roommates. New medication bags were attached to their intravenous lines early Friday that were supposed to contain antibiotic drugs in a dextrose solution. Peninsula receives these intravenous solutions pre-packaged from a nursing facility drug and equipment supplier, Hi-Care of Tarzana, according to Peninsula’s administrator, Robert E. Arsenault.

“We began to feel funny right away,” said Carolyn Myracks, 28, of Lawndale, one of the patients. “I was sweating everywhere and my legs and arms were getting numb and then I just went out.”

Investigators are looking into the possibility of tampering at Hi-Care as well as at Peninsula, according to Marvin Brandon, the Department of Health Services investigator assigned to the case, although mislabeling or manufacturing error could also be the cause.

Hi-Care administrator Gayle Grossman said the company is cooperating with investigators, but believes that if tampering occurred, it happened “after (the intravenous solutions) left our facility.”

Nevertheless, Peninsula has returned 91 bags of intravenous solutions to Hi-Care and replenished stock from another supplier as a precaution, Arsenault said.

“At this point we are waiting to determine what (Peninsula) and the health department are going to do about this incident,” Kaiser’s Brassfield said, adding that in the five years Kaiser has contracted with Peninsula for skilled nursing services, Kaiser has received no complaints.

Myracks’ intravenous bag was to have contained the anti-fungal drug Flagel, for treatment of osteomyelitis, a bone infection. The intravenous solution for Myracks’ roommate, Diane Con, 43, was to have contained an antibiotic, Ancef, for treatment of celulitis, a skin infection, according to Arsenault.

Instead, both bags appear to have contained insulin or a similar drug that lowers blood sugar. Low blood sugar caused by insulin overdose can cause coma and death in extreme cases.

Arsenault said nurses noticed the women had become confused, flushed and sweaty shortly after the medication bags were attached to their intravenous lines. A check of their heart rates and other vital signs showed abnormalities and within minutes their conditions markedly deteriorated.

The nurses summoned paramedics, using the 911 emergency line, Arsenault said.

Myracks and Con were rushed to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center--Harbor City, where they were diagnosed and treated with intravenous dextrose--or sugar water--which immediately revived them, said Dr. Alan Boyar of Kaiser.