Medical Error at Cedars-Sinai Prompts Suit Against Drug Maker
On Tuesday, parents of newborn twins filed a lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare over an incident last month in which the children were given overdoses of the blood thinner Heparin at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, allege that Baxter was negligent for failing to recall vials of a high-concentration version of the drug that had similar labeling to the lower-dose version that the children were supposed to receive (Pallasch, Chicago Sun-Times, 12/5).
Cedars-Sinai is not named in the suit.
On Nov. 18, the Quaids' children twice were given the stronger version of the drug, which is 1,000 times more concentrated than the intended dosage. Another child also was given an overdose of the blood thinner.
All three children have since been released from the hospital and suffered no adverse health effects, according to Cedars-Sinai staff.
According to the hospital, pharmacy technicians and nurses in three separate instances failed to verify the drug's concentration (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 12/5).
After three Indiana children died from a similar incident last year, Baxter began packaging the higher-dose vials with a warning label that was a different color than the smaller concentration, a Baxter spokesperson said.
However, the company never recalled the old vials, including the ones used at Cedars-Sinai.
The lawsuit alleges Baxter was negligent for not recalling the old vials (Chicago Sun-Times, 12/5).