Dennis Quaid's twins get accidental overdose

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SuziQ

SuziQ

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The newborn twins of Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, were reportedly given an accidental overdose of blood thinner at a hospital.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/21/quaid.newborns.ap/index.html

******
Medical errors are a special interest of mine. My husband passed away in 1995 from a medical error. In the insuing legal aftermath I discovered that medical errors kill more people than cancer, heart attacks, and car accidents combined.
 
Omg how horrible for them. And for you too SuziQ im so sorry
 
AmandaBrown23 said:
Omg how horrible for them. And for you too SuziQ im so sorry
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Thank you Amanda. I wish there was an easy fix or solution to the problem. But there isn't one. There are great medical professionals out there. I just wish the bad ones were held more accountable than they currently are.

ETA: It breaks my heart when I read about cases like the Quaid twins.
 
I think there was another case, within the last year or so, where infants were given injections of adult strength because the adult strength bottle was unintentionally stored in the infant (peds ward) medicine locker. I think they really punished the person who put it there and changed the procedures at that hospital to assure that it wouldn't happen again.
 
TheShadow said:
I think there was another case, within the last year or so, where infants were given injections of adult strength because the adult strength bottle was unintentionally stored in the infant (peds ward) medicine locker. I think they really punished the person who put it there and changed the procedures at that hospital to assure that it wouldn't happen again.
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This happened in Indy a couple of years (?) ago. Three infants died. From what I've read, it seems the manufacturer must address the packaging. The labels on both of these doses were in different shades of blue.
 
I'm sorry if this is naive, but did the twins die as a result? The article is unclear. I think it says they are in the intensive care unit.
 
I think I read somewhere that they were expected to live.
 
The AP is reporting that they hospitals says the babies should be fine and are not showing any adverse side effects, which is a miracle in itself! Praise the Lord they will be alright!
 
This is so sad. Gosh people need to be more careful!
 
LovingTheChaos said:
Dennis Quaid is suing the maker of heparin.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/04/people.dennisquaid.newborn.ap/index.html

The article also mentions the twins are at home & seem to be doing OK so far.
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Wow, I'm amazed!!!! It must be something about the way it's labeled. I wonder if they will also sue the hospital or workers later? Maybe not.

This is going to be an interesting case!!!! I just hope the twins will be all right - it sounded like they caught it in time, but they can't rule out damage for awhile.

My husband says they should have been able to tell if there was a brain bleed by c-scan and so forth.

They don't need the money; they are probably suing to get the drug company to make changes.
 
Marthatex said:
They don't need the money; they are probably suing to get the drug company to make changes.
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I am hoping they will settle out of court for the changes made in the label and bottle shape. I don't think it is right to sue the drug makers. In the medical profession, it is THEIR JOB to check and double check when giving drugs. It was a human error...not the drug company's fault. They shouldn't be held responsible for this. I don't care if the bottles are identical. Reading the bottles carefully should be the key here. Why does everyone in the world think things need to be idiot proof? What ever happened to being responsible for doing a job correctly? I am happy the babies are going to be ok. However, until they start school and start learning to read, the damage might not show up. I think they did say there was some brain bleeding. It was a tragic mistake. Don't you know the person that made that mistakes feels like crap? Gosh, it is all so sad. :(
 
This is one law suit I can agree with. He can't sue every health care worker, or for that matter every hospital. The maker of this drug can make a simple change in packaging to help save babies. It is not about greed or money, or even punishing someone (hence the small amount of damages). I believe he is doing this to force them to make the change. This is a good thing he is doing.
 
I'm against the lawsuit. I think overall, lawsuits encourage those involved in medical mistakes to hide the mistake, not to admit it and make positive changes. The packaging on the vial was already changed early this fall before the Quaid babies accidental overdose. Also, the manufacturer sent out letters in February warning health care workers to read carefully. I don't know what outcome they hope to get from the lawsuit. From an article on Yahoo the Quaids are suing because ...


"The company failed to recall the large-dosage vials after the infant deaths and repackage the drug, the lawsuit contends. It said the manufacturer also should have issued an "urgent" warning to health care providers that required them to educate nurses and others about the problems and implement safety procedures."
 
deandaniellws said:
I am hoping they will settle out of court for the changes made in the label and bottle shape. I don't think it is right to sue the drug makers. In the medical profession, it is THEIR JOB to check and double check when giving drugs. It was a human error...not the drug company's fault. They shouldn't be held responsible for this. I don't care if the bottles are identical. Reading the bottles carefully should be the key here. Why does everyone in the world think things need to be idiot proof? What ever happened to being responsible for doing a job correctly? I am happy the babies are going to be ok. However, until they start school and start learning to read, the damage might not show up. I think they did say there was some brain bleeding. It was a tragic mistake. Don't you know the person that made that mistakes feels like crap? Gosh, it is all so sad. :(
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I think this is a very accurate assessment, from what we know. It does seem it was employee error too, but I don't really know all the facts.

Usually there is a system though, for labeling and stocking the drugs. If the packaging was too much alike - I have know idea; but my husband feels there is NO excuse for having an adult dosage in the pediatric ward.

He says it's better to be in an "all childrens'" or OB hospital; but of course we don't always have access to that. The Dell children's center is pretty great here.

I don't really know what kind of hospital the California hospital was, or how good it's neonatal ICU is. I'm sure this was a neonatal ICU, and you just HAVE to have the top employees and performance there. There is little to no room for mistake, period, with infants. They are ACUTE care.

I hope they settle also, but whoever needs to make changes makes them, -drug co. or employees, or hospital staff.

I don't go for "frivolous" lawsuits at all. Maybe when the Quaids realize their babies are just fine, they will withdraw the suit if it's not valid.
 
Go get 'em Dennis and Kimberly! This needs to stop! These "professionals" must be held accountable 100% of the time when they make mistakes in hospitals with our kids, the most precious and vulnerable amongst us. No excuses! Make the changes necessary, NOW!

I'd also like to know how those babies got MRSA which is why they were back in the hospital to begin with and were getting IV medication (antibiotics), just shortly after delivery. If the hospital was the source (probably was but good luck proving it), is there an even bigger system wide PROBLEM with that hospital. Have they become that lax in numerous areas and how many things have gone wrong there that no one knows about, yet. It will be interesting what the Defense team for the Drug Manufacturer comes up with.
 
I've got little problem with idiot-proofing a drug given routinely to every baby born in the USA. Apparently, the proper dose and the screw-your-child-up for life dose look exactly alike - make one of them red or something. It's not that a hard.
 
Every baby born in the US doesn't routinely get that drug that way, it was used for the IV line they already had - unless a baby needs an IV (which they don't routinely), it won't happen to them.
 
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