Dennis Quaid and his wife had quite a scare a little over a year ago. After their twins were born they were given a dangerous overdose of Heparin, the blood thinner that was administered to the newborns. Lucky, the twins recovered undamaged. Needless to say, the Quaids sued. They went after the maker of the Heparin blaming bottles that were poorly labeled. Although they sued the pharmaceutical company, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the hospital where the babies were born took responsibility. Yesterday, the Quaids reached a settlement with the hospital at the tune of $750,000. The hospital isn’t actually admitting wrongdoing and the Quaids can still “pursue claims for the children”.
Sadly, there are a scary amount of hospital errors in dealing with newborns and infants. One issue is the difference in quantities to give and adult vs. babies, others are just plain old mistakes, human error striking again. Most families don’t have the resources to follow up with a lawsuit in cases like this. The Quaids were lucky enough to demand some consequences, something that needed to be addressed since there were several patients there who were also given an overdose.
Do you think that the hospital settled the case due to its’ high profile nature?
Via AP - photo via Celebrity Baby Blog
