After the mixup at the Baxter Healthcare Corp. in Illinois resulted in the twin newborns of actor Dennis Quaid and wife Kimberly Buffington to overdose from a blood thinner, the couple filed a lawsuit citing negligence.
The babies received a massive amount of heparin, the blood thinner, receiving 10,000 units instead of the usual 10 units required. It's not the first time this has happened as three other babies have died from similar mistakes.
The actual accident occurred at Cedars-Sinai, considered normally one of the better hospitals in the U.S.
In the lawsuit, it says Baxter Healthcare Corp. failed by not recalling the product, knowing it had caused other infants to die from the confusion caused by putting labels on the products that look similar to each other, each having blue backgrounds.
The lawsuit included a memo from Baxter to clients acknowledging the problem and warning of the outcomes to the babies from confusion over the labels.
According to Quaid lawyer Susan Loggans, the couple hasn't decided whether they'll file charges against Cedar-Sinai. "Cedars-Sinai has already apologized and we are waiting to see what they do to respond," Loggans said.
Loggans added the Quaids didn't really want to file the lawsuit, but are doing it to help protect this from happening to others. Usually I would be very skeptical about a statement like that, but in this case it's probably true, as they're only asking for $50,000 in damages, whereas they probably could have asked for a lot more.
I think it's a good thing they're doing, bringing attention to a problem that really does need to be taken care of.
» Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Big Mistake with Dennis Quaid's Twins from ManagersRealm
The response of Baxter Healthcare Corp. to the problem surrounding the labeling of its blood thinner drug heparin, was poor at best.Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly Buffington agree, as they filed a lawsuit against the company citing negligence... [Read More]
Tracked on: December 5, 2007 3:17 PM | Permalink to Trackback