Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly Buffington have filed a lawsuit against the drug maker Baxter Corporation, a manufacturer of heparin.
Quaid and his wife filed the lawsuit because he believed that his newborn twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were victims of a medical error at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The twins of Quaid and his wife were born back on November 8th and were put in the hospital on November 20th. The reason for the hospitalization was due to them being given an overdose of heparin by accident on November 18th. Heparin is used to rid of IV lines and flush them out. It also prevents blood clots.
The twins were given 10,000 units of the drug when the normal dosage for babies their age is just 10 units.
The babies were treated upon immediately realizing the error when they began to bleed uncontrollably.
The lawsuit states “Since a medical error in administration could lead to a dangerous or fatal result, the vials should have been in completely distinguishable size and shape.”
Cedars Sinai Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Langberg stated that “This was a preventable error, involving a failure to follow our standard policies and procedures, and there is no excuse for that to occur at Cedars=Sinai.”
Quaid is still considering a lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai, but is apparently happy they apologized.