Yes, you read correctly. Low-speed car chase. Not something you see in the news too often, right?

Jacob Kells (30) is from Santa Rosa, CA. He has diabetes. Last Thursday, Kells got behind the wheel of a rented U-Haul truck. Oh, what a bad idea. He was obviously having low blood sugar issues because he caused several minor hit-and-run crashes that morning. Kells would not respond to police calls for him to pull over. Result: the cops had to tail him all, slowly, all the way from Redwood City to Gilroy.

When the police finally caught up with him, Kells was reportedly sweating and incoherent. The officers, obviously aware his state was diabetes-related, gave him glucose paste then got him to hospital, pronto. He was later arrested and taken in for psychological assessment - which I guess means there may be something else going on here other than low blood sugar.

Hats off to the officers of the Redwood City California Highway Patrol for recognizing the signs of low blood sugar and reacting accordingly. That is, for understanding the medical basis for Kells' behavior - not assuming the guy was just drunk or high.

Two elderly women died and one remains in a coma after the three apparently received massive insulin overdoses during stays at the University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH). One of the women who died, Ruthie Holloway (82), was diabetic. She was in the hospital in May due to a possible urinary tract infection. When she showed signs of low blood sugar, a test was conducted which showed extremely high insulin levels in her blood - hundreds of times higher than normal. By then it was too late: she quickly became catatonic, suffering brain damage, and she died at a nursing home in June. Particularly disturbing is the fact that there was no record of her being given insulin by a staff member.

The incidents, which occurred between May and June of this year, are under investigation by the Chicago police and by officials at UCH. All three women were in the same hospital wing when the overdoses were given. The question is: were those overdoses the result of staff incompetence or where they given intentionally and, if so, why?

It now looks likely that UCH will have malpractice lawsuits coming its way from the womens' families. According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, attorneys acting on behalf of the families have requested copies of the womens' patient files. They have also requested copies of employee files.

Even though the person responsible has not yet been (publicly?) identified, UCH has made some major changes in its procedures regarding the storage and handling of insulin. In particular, each dose of the drug must go through a procedure of checking and witnessing, with a paper trail backing up all staff actions.

Visit the Trib's website or CBS2 Chicago online to read more about this sad case.

You may have heard that diabetics face a greater risk of complications during hospital stays. Well, now there's evidence that diabetics with trauma injuries are particularly at risk. That info comes courtesy of a large Pennsylvania study that looked at records for around 25,000 trauma patients, half with diabetes, the other half without. The study tracked the patients' progress over the course of almost twenty years. Impressive.

What did they find? Twenty-three percent of the diabetic trauma patients experienced complications. That compares with only fourteen percent of non-diabetics. The diabetics also spent slightly more time in intensive care and were more likely to need ventilator support. The overall risk of infections was higher too - eleven percent versus six percent.

Good news: despite all this, the data did not suggest people with diabetes are more likely to die after a trauma injury. Nor did it suggest diabetics stay in hospital longer than non-diabetics. The team that conducted the study states that the next step would be to examine whether or not improved blood sugar control in diabetic trauma patients would impact these figures.

Read more about these findings by visiting MedPageToday or, for a brief summary, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Or check out the full report, published in Archives of Surgery (July, 2007).

Two doctors from the UK warn athletes who take growth hormone in an effort to enhance their performance increase their risk of developing diabetes.

The doctors describe what they believe is the first reported case of diabetes associated with taking high doses of growth hormone. A 36-year-old professional body-builder was admitted to the emergency room and treated for chest pain. He told his doctors that in the past year he had lost 88 pounds and noticed that he had to urinate excessively and was constantly thirsty and hungry. The man admitted to using anabolic steroids for 15 years and high doses of growth hormone for the past 3 years. He said he went on insulin a year after starting growth hormone in an effort to counter the effects of high blood sugar, but he stopped taking insulin after a couple of episodes of sudden low blood sugar while at the gym. Tests showed that the man's liver was inflamed, his kidneys were enlarged and that he had very high blood sugar. He was also dehydrated, and was diagnosed with diabetes. He was admitted to the hospital, treated with intravenous fluids and insulin for five days and then sent home. His symptoms resolved completely, and he was no longer diabetic.

The use of growth hormone has become popular with athletes because it is easy to buy online and difficult to detect in screening tests, unlike anabolic steroids. The internet gives easy access to these drugs as well as the 'best' means to take them. The reporting doctors warn physicians should not dismiss such users as being naïve. They have extensive pseudo-medical knowledge. Sadly, the short term risks are instantly addressed. More concerning is the reality of long term complications. The efficacy of growth hormone for enhancing athletic performance is debatable. The conclusive suggestion is anyone taking high doses of growth hormone should get their blood sugar levels checked regularly.

The (oh-so dryly named) Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is working to provide the first nationwide certification program for inpatient diabetes care. The purpose of the program - the Advanced Inpatient Diabetes Care Certification Program - will be to encourage both high quality of care and greater standardization of care for diabetes patients in hospital settings. Developing the program is a collaborative effort between the JCAHO and the the American Diabetes Association (ADA), with the program being based upon the ADA's clinical practice guidelines.

Here's why this is important: Obviously, it is to help ensure that individual diabetics get a high level of care when they are admitted to hospital. However, it's also about the big picture of diabetes in this country. With millions of Americans diagnosed with diabetes and numbers only expected to rise over the next generation, quality care in hospitals for diabetes patients will be critical in stemming the tide. The higher the quality of care, the lower the risk of ongoing diabetes-related health complications.

Shannon Lewis, whose little boy Brendon was diagnosed with diabetes while still a toddler, blogs Mom Wants A Diabetes Cure ... pure and simple. In a recent post, she shared the moment of realization of what she needed to do to be the mother Brendon needed her to be.

Shannon did all the rights things that mothers do when they are pregnant and avoided all the things mothers are supposed to avoid when they share the same heartbeat with another human being, sustaining their life until they enter the world and can sustain life on their own.

When your baby is born, you listen for the cry. Then you check the fingers and toes. Then you wait while the doctor and nurses run your newborn through a quick series of tests. Brendon was born with all his fingers and toes, and he aced the APGAR. Brendon was home-free to the beginning of a healthy life. Shannon's efforts during her pregnancy to be healthy for both herself and her baby had served them well.

Two and a half years later, Brendon lay on a gurney in the ER, limp, seemingly lifeless, with shallow breath and sallow skin. What had gone wrong to such a perfect beginning for Brendon? He was diagnosed with diabetes and Shannon's idealistic concept of motherhood and her child's health became forever altered. She writes poignantly about the threshold from one reality to the next and touches your heart in the passage. It's a must-read post for all mothers.