Dennis Quaid's twins get accidental overdose

[CarpeDiem]

When my Dad was in the hospital, my niece was curious about the iv meds he was on. When she looked at the labels, one of the meds didn't have my Dad's name on it....it was for another patient.

Thank goodness he was ok.....no reaction.

OMG, that's BIG. When my son was in the hospital as a newborn, the nurse used a little disposable heat pack on his foot to help get a good blood draw. Then she threw it away. A few moments later same nurse comes in, gets that out of the garbage and was preparing to use it on the child in the next bed - until my husband spoke up in shock and appall. We didn't see her again.

 

[reb]

wow- that article was a real eye-opener. i plan to stay away from hospitals as much as humanly possible! but really... it seems crystal clear to me that insurance companies (among other things,, but above all-) have absolutely, positively DESTROYED any vestige of human compassion in most modern medical facilities. i have already found a local doctor who is more holistic and no longer accepts insurance or deals with insurance companies.. and i plan on seeing HIM the next time i need a check-up! i wish there was an alternative to mainstream hospitals, that was like this.

just the fact that they told the parents "oh, your kids are fine, just fine'.. when in fact they were scrambling to cover up a life-threatening mistake-- is absolutely inexcusable and criminal!!! i can see not being 100% honest ALL the time about every little thing... i.e., if there was some tiny thing that you didn't need to know about- that was not a problem- that would save you from being needlessly worried,, OK, that i can understand, to a point. but this.... this was 100% negligent and unforgivable!!!

 

[Taximom]

I missed this on 60 minutes but here's a recap:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/13/60minutes/main3936412.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3936412
Quaid recounts ordeal

On their second day there, the Quaids were told that the babies were doing fine, so they went home to get a few hours of rest, leaving instructions to be called if there were any problems. But around 9 p.m. that night, Kimberly Quaid had a mother's premonition that something had gone wrong.

"I just had this horrible feeling come over me and I felt like that the babies were passing. And I just had this feeling of dread," she recalls.

"Kimberly even made a note at the time that she had the feeling, for some reason," Dennis Quaid adds. "And I called the room. And I was put through to the nurse who was in our room with the kids. And I said, 'How are the kids?' And she said, 'They're fine. They're just fine.'"

But Quaid says they weren't fine.
(more plus pics/video at link)

 

[angelmom]

After reading this article, it really does make me less sympathetic to the drug company. Although they technically didn't do anything WRONG, DQ is correct that we are extremely cautious about recalling all kinds of things that MIGHT be dangerous, from toys to dog food; yet when accidental overdoses of this drug due to confusion over similar labels with adult and pediatric strengths have killed multiple people, they didn't take the step to get those bottles off the shelves.

They wouldn't even have had to recall all of them - just the pediatric ones would have done the trick, so that only one bottle had a blue label.

This story is frightening. I am so glad the Quaid babies are alright, but it is heartbreaking to read about the ones who didn't survive.

 

[ljwf22]

Bayer recalled heparin but not because of the mixups with adult/pediatric dosages...it recalled the drugs due to quality issues because the drug are manufactured in China!