Los Angeles (E! Online) - His children are on the mend and Dennis
Quaid is on the warpath against the maker of the drug that nearly
killed his newborns.
The actor and wife Kimberly filed a lawsuit in Chicago Tuesday
accusing Baxter Healthcare Corporation of negligence in packaging the
blood-thinning drug heparin.
The Quaids twins, Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone, were mistakenly given
the wrong dosage and wound up in critical condition.
This is not a product issue. The issue here is about improper use of
a product, said Baxter spokeswoman Deborah Spark, who declined to
comment specifically on the suit because she said the company had yet
to be served.
While we strive to clearly differentiate our products and dosages,
no amount of differentiation will replace the value of clinicians
carefully reviewing and reading a drug name and dose before
dispensing and administering it, she said.
The lawsuit alleges that Baxter is at fault because the
10-unit/milliliter and 10,000-unit/milliliter vials of the
anticlotting drug have virtually identical labels. An exhibit
included in the court papers shows the two similar-size vials side by
side, each with a blue label. The most distinguishing feature is the
color of the cap: The smaller concentration has a green top, the
higher has a gray.
The Quaids say the company should have recalled the vials after
three children died in Indiana following a nearly identical dosage
mix-up.
Zoe and Thomas, who were born via a surrogate on Nov. 8, appear to
have recovered after a stint in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Everything looks good, said the familys attorney, Susan E. Loggans.
The infants went home Tuesday.
The Quaids suit seeks more than $100,000 in damages, but Loggans
insisted the case isnt about money.
Dennis, 53, and Kimberly, 35, decided to file the lawsuit, because
they wanted to prevent other parents from suffering, Loggans said.
In a Nov. 26 statement, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center acknowledged
that three patients being treated intravenously had their IV
catheters accidentally flushed with a 10,000-unit solution of
heparin, rather than the proscribed 10-unit dose.
The error was identified by Cedars-Sinai staff, who immediately
performed blood tests on the patients to measure blood-clotting
function, Cedars-Sinai chief medical officer Dr. Michael Langberg
said in a statement, declining to identify the patients by name.
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, Langberg continued.
Although it appears at this point that there was no harm to any
patient, we take this situation very seriously. We are conducting a
comprehensive investigation, cooperating fully with the Los Angeles
County Department of Health Services and will take all necessary
steps to ensure that this never happens here again.
The Quaids have not signaled whether they plan to pursue any legal
action against the hospital. In the couples only statement since the
medical nightmare began, they simply thanked fans last week for their
thoughts and prayers and asked for privacy at this difficult time.
The Quaids are very religious, said Loggans, and they believe their
childrens recovery is a real miracle.
(Originally published Dec. 4, 2007 at 2:05 p.m. PT.)
