Protective medical device
First Claim
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1. A method for preventing cutting or puncturing of the skin during use of a sharpened invasive medical instrument, comprising the steps of:
- providing a user with a sharpened invasive medical instrument,providing said user with an article of protective clothing made of fibrous material, wherein said instrument has more than one adjacent point at the sharpened portion thereof and wherein said points are in a fixed relationship to each other, which points are exposed to the user during the use and which are separated by a valley; and
entangling the points of said invasive instrument in said fibrous material upon contact between said instrument and said clothing, wherein the distance between said points and the depth of said valley are sufficiently small that during engagement of said instrument and said clothing, said points and the fibers of said material entangle and the depth of entangled fibers within said valley is equal to or greater than the depth of said valley such that, thereby preventing penetration of said points through said clothing into the skin of the user.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for protecting users of invasive instruments from inadvertent skin puncture by providing the user with an article of protective clothing and an invasive instrument both designed so that the instrument will become entangled with the clothing during contact, thereby preventing penetration of the skin.
171 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method for preventing cutting or puncturing of the skin during use of a sharpened invasive medical instrument, comprising the steps of:
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providing a user with a sharpened invasive medical instrument, providing said user with an article of protective clothing made of fibrous material, wherein said instrument has more than one adjacent point at the sharpened portion thereof and wherein said points are in a fixed relationship to each other, which points are exposed to the user during the use and which are separated by a valley; and entangling the points of said invasive instrument in said fibrous material upon contact between said instrument and said clothing, wherein the distance between said points and the depth of said valley are sufficiently small that during engagement of said instrument and said clothing, said points and the fibers of said material entangle and the depth of entangled fibers within said valley is equal to or greater than the depth of said valley such that, thereby preventing penetration of said points through said clothing into the skin of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for preventing skin-penetrating injury to a user of a sharpened invasive medical instrument, comprising in combination:
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an article of protective fibrous clothing; and a sharpened invasive medical instrument having at least two adjacent points in fixed relation to each other at the sharpened portion thereof, wherein said points are exposed to the user during use, and are separated from each other by a valley, wherein the distance between said points and the depth of said valley are sufficiently small that during engagement of said instrument and said clothing, said points entangle in the fibers of said clothing, and the depth of entangled fibers within the valley is equal to or greater than the depth of said valley, thereby preventing penetration of said instrument through said clothing into the skin of the user. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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- 40. A needle for invasive medical use having a sharpened distal end and a plurality of points at said distal end such that the points forming the invasive end of said needle are at a fixed distance in relation to each other and the space between each adjacent point forms a valley having a depth no greater than about 1 mm.
Specification