Beware Of Read Errors Blood Sugar Monitoring Equipment Can Cause Death

JAKARTA - The use of blood sugar monitoring devices must be highly considered because misreading can endanger lives. This was reiterated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently.

The FDA issued another warning because there were seven deaths attributed to disorders in blood sugar monitors, precisely artificial tools from Abbot Diabates Care. In addition to death cases, hundreds of bad events also occurred due to disturbances in these devices.

Mistakes in reading blood sugar levels can have an impact on the wrong use of diabetes drugs, excessive intake of carbohydrates, or skipping or delaying insulin doses.

"This decision poses a serious health risk, including potential injury or death, or other less serious complications," the FDA said, quoted by CBS News, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.

The FDA has also published specific information about the products affected in its warning. The FDA assesses the disruption to blood sugar monitors and this read error as a potential high risk problem and will continue to update its website as soon as information becomes available.

"Patients must verify whether their sensors are affected and immediately stop using, and dispose of affected sensors," he said.

Meanwhile, Abbot himself stated that the manufacturing problem that affects products has been resolved and the company will continue to produce the product.

Patients who regularly use blood sugar monitors are also advised to use it according to recommended steps. Starting from always washing your hands with soap and warm water and then dry it before the test.

Then use a new needle every time you monitor, make sure your fingers are clean and dry (don't use alcohol if it is still wet), drop enough blood into the appropriate strip, then wait for the results to appear. It is also important to record the results and dispose of used needles and strips safely to maintain cleanliness and accuracy.