It was one of those events that's hard to even imagine going through. When Dennis and Kimberly Quaid's 12-day-old twins were accidentally given 1,000 times the proper dose of Hep-Lock, a blood thinner, no one was sure if they would survive (they did, thankfully). The thing is, it wasn't the first time it had happened. In 2006, six other babies were given an overdose of Hep-Lock in an Indianapolis hospital. Only three of those babies survived.

Last week, Dennis Quaid testified before a House committee about his experience. Rather than sue the hospital, the couple decided last year to make a case against Baxter, the drug maker itself. They say that Baxter knew about the labeling trouble with Hep-Lock, yet did not recall the bottles when they had a chance.



The drug company has asked for the case to be dismissed, based on something called pre-emption. Pre-emption allows drug companies to be immune from such suits, because FDA (or federal) approval trumps state laws. Quaid and others are urging lawmakers to allow drug companies to be sued so that they can be held accountable for their mistakes.

I know that we're a litigation-happy nation, but it seems like the Quaids have a point. Baxter knew the labels were a problem, yet they chose not to act. As long as there are humans, there will be human error, so it seems like the corporation in charge of making the product should put steps into place to prevent those errors. Clear labeling would be a good start.

However this issue is decided, I'm grateful to the Quaids for spending their time making sure that this sort of incident doesn't happen to another family.