Quaid Twins Was Administered

Business.

Overdose of blood thinner to dennis quaid's twins was tragic and totally avoidable - the accidental overdose of actor dennis quaid' s newborn. twins is one of about 5 million medical mistakes made in the u. And, according to a United States Pharmacopeia study released in.

S. every. year. - march 2007, children are almost three times as likely as adults to be. harmed by medical mistakes. Angeles, 200The twins were, on November 19 born November 8, 200The. The Quaid twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, 000 times the, were given 1 normal concentration of Heparin, a blood. thinner used to prevent clots, at Cedars - Sinai Medical Center in Los. Quaids filed a lawsuit on December 4, in Cook County, 2007, Illinois, Circuit Court against the makers of Heparin claiming Baxter Healthcare. If the life of the Quaid. twins can be put in peril by a massive overdose at such a renowned. hospital, we must wonder how safe are the more anonymous babies lying in. hospital nurseries less reputable than Cedars Sinai.

Corp. was negligent in packaging different doses of the drug in similar. vials with blue backgrounds. (click here to view lawsuit: http: //www. aolcdn. com/ tmz documents/ 1204 dennis quaid wm. pdf) Sadly, the. massive overdose to the Quaid twins is but one of thousands of mistakes. made by doctors and medical staff every day. - my experience in. private practice includes several instances of parents coming to me. because their babies had been harmed while under hospital care. There also are times when the purpose of a. lawsuit is to prevent future harm happening to other babies and that was. the motive of the Quaid' s lawsuit against the manufacturers of Heparin. To protect. the child' s economic future, and to provide lifetime care, I have advised. parents to bring legal action. The. results of some of the lawsuits in which I was lead attorney include a. $18 million verdict, the largest in Michigan for 2006, for a medical. error to a baby causing Cerebral Palsy, recovery of$ 2 million on behalf. of a baby born with Spina Bifida, and recovery of$ 900, 000 for the parents. of a baby born with Downs Syndrome. Practices lists anti - coagulants, as high, including Heparin - alert. medications, because they have" a heightened risk of causing significant. patient harm" when used in error. " The Quaid twins survived the massive. overdose and are now doing well, according to a family spokesman, but too. many similar victims are not as fortunate.

The Institute for Safe Medication. - last year, three babies died at. an indianapolis hospital after a pharmacy technician stocked a medicine. cabinet with vials containing heparin with a concentration 1, 000 times. stronger than what was normally kept there. The Quaid lawsuit filed Dec. 4 says. Nurses didn' t check the label. and administered the wrong dosage. Baxter Healthcare should have recalled the large - dosage vials after the. Baxter Healthcare Corp. had been aware of the. potential overdose problem with Herapin long before the overdose to the.

Indianapolis deaths. - quaid twins was administered. Alert to its healthcare provider network about a potential life. threatening medication error of its two Heparin products. On February 6, Baxter sent a, 2007 Safety. The Heparin. In that alert Baxter admitted it was. "aware of fatal medication errors that have occurred when two Heparin. products with shades of blue labeling were mistaken for each other. " The. alert made mention of three infant deaths that had occurred because the. higher dose was" inadvertently administered. " Baxter issued a reminder to. healthcare professionals which could have avoided the totally unnecessary. overdose to the Quaid twins and which also contains some sound general. procedures to follow before administering other medications. Sodium injection with 10, 000 units per milligram and the HEP - LOCK U/ P. injection with 10 units per milligram.

The reminder. noted: "Never rely on color as a sole indicator to differentiate product. identity. " "Always carefully read the product label to verify that the. correct product name and strength have been selected. " "Always carefully. review both the drug name and dose on the label before dispensing and. administering these products. " Double - check your inventory as soon as. possible, to ensure that there is no mix - up of the products. - it is advised that you provide color photographs to staff to. assist in their understanding of the product similarities. Notify all. staff of the potential for errors in dispensing and administering these. products. Given the. existence of this clearly worded Safety Alert from Baxter, the Quaids. attorney( Susan E. C. ) rightly asserts that Baxter. is negligent because it failed to recall and failed to repackage products. it knew were life - threatening. Loggans& Associates, P. Baxter' s failure to recall or repackage may. seem incredible to many but, this behavior is, unfortunately repeated far. too often by pharmaceuticals whose hunger for profits prevents them from. spending money to recall or repackage products known to be potentially. life - threatening.

Most people do not realize that. more than 700, 000 Americans die each year because of medical mistakes. - for that and other reasons, healthcare consumers will. continue to need the services of medical malpractice legal specialists who. will advocate for them and protect them from unthinking and careless. hospitals and healthcare professionals. Victims need an attorney to uncover the truth because most medical. malpractice mistakes are covered up by doctors and hospitals. As an. attorney and Registered Nurse my knowledge and insight of the operating. room as well as the courtroom has proved beneficial in bringing. well - deserved justice to victims of tragic medical mistakes.