Safety shield for medical needles

1. A safety needle apparatus comprising:

a needle assembly including a needle mount and a needle cannula, the needle cannula defining a lumen having a sharpened distal tip for piercing tissue, the needle mount supporting a proximal end of the needle cannula and being adapted to engage an intravenous line;

a shield positioned about the needle cannula, the needle cannula being movable in relation to the shield from an advanced position in which the distal tip of the needle cannula extends from a distal end of the shield to a retracted position in which the distal tip of the needle cannula is positioned within the shield;

a lock insert and a locking member, the lock insert being supported on one of the needle cannula and the shield and the locking member being supported on the other of the needle cannula and the shield; and

a platform spaced outwardly of and fixedly supporting the shield, the platform being positioned and configured to support the safety needle apparatus on a body of a patient, the platform including a base member which is positioned about the shield and the base member extending in a generally parallel orientation with respect to the shield and configured to support the needle cannula at a substantially orthogonal orientation in relation to a plane defined by a top surface of the platform, wherein the top surface of the platform defines a hole, and the shield is fixedly secured to the platform within the hole during use of the needle cannula for piercing tissue to prevent relative longitudinal movement between the platform and the shield;

wherein the lock insert and the locking member are configured to prevent movement of the needle cannula to the advanced position after the needle cannula has been moved to the retracted position; and

wherein the shield is not movable relative to the platform as the needle cannula moves between the advanced position and the retracted position.

2. The safety needle apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lock insert is supported on the needle cannula and the locking member extends from an internal surface of the shield.

3. The safety needle apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the lock insert includes at least one resilient projection member.

4. The safety needle apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the at least one resilient projection member extends radially outwardly in its normal configuration.

5. The safety needle apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the locking member includes at least one protrusion having a generally annular shape and extending inwardly from an inner surface of the shield.

6. The safety needle apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lock insert is supported . . . and the locking member extends from an outer surface of the needle cannula.

7. The safety needle apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the lock insert includes at least one protrusion that is movable radially outward.

8. The safety needle apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the locking member is an annular tab extending in a generally orthogonal direction from the outer surface of the needle cannula.

9. The safety needle apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base member of the platform extends downward from the top surface of the platform, the base member being substantially parallel to the needle cannula.

10. The safety needle apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the platform is configured to prevent the shield from contacting the body of the patient during use of the needle cannula for piercing tissue.

11. The safety needle apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shield is permanently fixed to the platform.