Winged catheter placement assembly

Claim 1

In an intravenous catheter assembly including (1) a catheter unit comprising: (a) a flexible plastic catheter having a distally tapered distal end, (b) a winged catheter insertion means comprising a resilient tubular body having a lumen therethrough and a pair of wings having substantially uniform thickness extending oppositely therefrom, the proximal end of said catheter in communication with said lumen of said catheter insertion means via its distal end, (c) a flexible tubing having its distal end in communication with said lumen of said catheter insertion means via its proximal end, (d) a tube hub having a lumen therethrough, the proximal end of said flexible tubing in communication with said lumen of said tube hub via its distal end, and (2) a needle inserted through said catheter, winged catheter insertion means, flexible tubing and tube hub, said needle having a sharpened distal end extending beyond said distal end of said catheter and a proximal end attached to a needle hub; the improvement which comprises: an area of reduced thickness on each of said wings along a portion of the width thereof substantially adjacent to said tubular body and providing improved flexibility to said wings, the remainder of said wing width portion providing an unreduced thickness portion, said lumen of said winged catheter insertion means having a diameter opposite the unreduced portions of said wings adjacent said tubular body predetermined to only capture said needle within said tubular body by the distortion of said lumen of said winged catheter insertions means when said wings are simultaneously held in a substantially vertical position.