Dennis Quaid's newborns accidentally overdosed by hospital staff
Categories: Babies, Pregnancy & birth, Places to go, Celeb kids, Celeb parenting
TMZ is reporting that up to thirteen patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles were given higher doses of the anti-coagulant, Heparin, including the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid.
According the source, a technician put the drug in wrong place and a nurse grabbed and administered it without noticing. The babies were each mistakenly given two doses of 10,000 units of Heparin before they started bleeding out. Heparin is used to flush out IV lines and prevent blood clots. A typical dose for an infant is 10 units.
Both babies are in the neo-natal intensive care until at Cedars-Sinai where they are said to be in stable condition.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Southerncharm 11-20-2007 @ 5:31PM
This happens often but you will hear more about it when an infant/child is involved due to med/weight ratio is very very narrow. A few years back at one of our hospitals here in TN a NICU nurse made the same mistake through out the night and five newborns died. If I remember correctly she ended up in intense therapy and never returned as a nurse. Thoughts go out to the little ones and hope they make a full recovery without long term effects.
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Nancy Toby 11-20-2007 @ 7:37PM
Yes, overdoses are horribly common. Our 5-month-old preemie was overdosed twice in a week's time while in the hospital for heart surgery - once with a drug that could have caused deafness (but fortunately didn't). The doctor in charge told me "If we suspended every nurse that gave an overdose, we wouldn't have any nurses left."
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xevia 11-20-2007 @ 8:08PM
This is very very sad. Especially the comment that proves that medical professionals are not doing their job properly. Is it because they are understaffed or what?
http://www.peacefairs.com
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Nancy Toby 11-20-2007 @ 8:10PM
The 12-hour shifts common in NICUs don't help a lot, I'll say that much.
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Eva 11-20-2007 @ 8:52PM
That's so upsetting. I wish them well.
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joiedevivre 11-20-2007 @ 9:40PM
True, I don't think twelve hour shifts help. When my daughter was in the NICU she wasn't given an overdose of drugs, but she was fed someone else's breastmilk by mistake. I know the nurses work very hard and I wouldn't be surprised if the nurse that did it was even more distraught then I was. That being said, I really wish they worked shorter shifts, were paid more, and maybe given more recognition... then maybe they wouldn't be too tired and careless mistakes.
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Heather 11-22-2007 @ 9:19AM
Wow I can see if a 2 dose's were given, or a mistake of 100 units instead of 10 units but 10,000 units and done 2x's! how do you possible make that much of mistake twice to 3 people?
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carrie 11-28-2007 @ 8:25PM
i just want to send my support and love to dennis and his family. i have preemie twins who have spent over 100 day in the hospital fighting for life. hang in there! lots of love c4barkers
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anwrose 12-05-2007 @ 9:03AM
This incident is so very sad for these babies, and as a nurse of 27 years, I can definitely see how this could happen. But with that said, it ultimately is EVERY nurse's responsibility to practice the BASIC nursing skill of the 5 RIGHTS of giving meds! ALL nurses should be sure they are giving the right med, to the right patient, at the right time, in the right dose and in the right route! When giving a med like heparin, it's VITAL that the nurse check, double check and triple check that the med in hand is the correct med for that patient. This is especially important when dealing with infants.
I truly pray that these little babies are able to recover without any lasting side effects.
God's Blessings to Dennis, Kim and those precious babies.
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