LEANDER, Texas, March 27 (UPI) -- Human blood was inadvertently poured on a student's leg during a simulation of a car wreck at a Texas high school, officials said.
The presentation, called "Shattered Dreams," typically involves artificial blood to dramatize the horror of automobile accidents. But in a March 8 event at Vandegrift High School in Leander, near Austin, a paramedic poured human blood onto a gauze bandage, then spilled some onto himself and the leg of a volunteer accident victim, Dr. David Martin, chief medical officer at St. David's Round Rock Medical Center, said.
The blood was in a bag donated as a prop and was past its expiration date, Emergency Medical Services Director Ernie Rodriguez said. He added that the unnamed paramedic could face discipline for his actions.
"Although this blood had undergone dozens of tests and was verified as completely clean, there was no reason a student participant should have come in contact with human blood," during the simulation, Martin said in a statement.
The Austin, Texas, American-Statesman reported Tuesday the student did not undergo any testing after the presentation, and that an investigation was under way.
