Insulin pump presents hurdle for aspiring officer
The insulin pump that controls Gregory Hennick's diabetes is the size of a pager and fits in his pocket. He said it hasn't stopped him from working as a police officer during the summer or from running laps, working out at the gym, or doing just about anything else.
Until now. The 22-year-old, who will graduate from Westfield State College this month with a degree in criminal justice, said the Northampton Police Department offered him a job as a police officer last month and then said it was forced to rescind the offer after learning that he wears the pump.
A state regulation bars anyone who wears an insulin pump from being hired as a full-time police officer in Massachusetts, although the same restriction doesn't apply to firefighter applicants. Yet, officers who start using pumps after they are hired may continue working.
"I didn't see this coming at all," Hennick, of Gloucester, said, adding that he has been preparing to be a police officer for a long time and thought that because his diabetes was manageable, he would get a job. "For them to say I can't do it, it was heartbreaking."
Hennick filed a complaint yesterday with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, accusing the City of Northampton and the state's Division of Human Resources of unlawful discrimination based on a perceived dis ability.
"I want them to know I'm fully capable of being a police officer," said Hennick, who worked the past two summers as an officer on Nantucket, then Provincetown.
Paul Dietl, acting chief human resources officer for the state, said yesterday that a panel of medical experts concluded in 1995 and again in 2002 that those who wear insulin pumps to monitor their blood glucose levels can't be hired as police officers. Candidates who take insulin injections may qualify, depending on the severity of their diabetes.
But Dietl said Hennick's case has raised questions about whether technological advances over the last few years have brought improve ments in the insulin pump that might warrant a revision of the state's regulation.
"We'll make sure we take a hard look at this," said Dietl, adding that the medical restrictions are meant to protect both the job applicants and the public. "The last thing we want to do is create an unfair barrier to employment."
Needham lawyer Timothy M. Burke, who filed the complaint on behalf of Hennick, said, "They simply have a perception of a handicap that doesn't exist."
Hennick, who was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus when he was 14, carries the pump, which contains insulin, in his pocket. A small tube connects the pump to a catheter inside the skin on his stomach. He said he could take insulin injections, but chose the pump because it is more effective and does not require him to carry vials of insulin and syringes and inject himself.
Neither Connecticut nor New Hampshire has restrictions on insulin pumps for officers. Although Hennick said he wants to stay in Massachusetts, he took the Connecticut State Police exam last week. 