Quaid's newborn twins in NICU after heparin OD Posted: 12 months ago by marli
I am not normally one to follow the celebrity gossip, but I could not believe this...
Dennis Quaid's newborn twins are fighting for their lives Tuesday after mistakenly being given an overdose of Heparin, a blood thinner, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Ordinarily, babies are given 10 units of the anti-coagulant- the twins were given 10,000.
Comments: 9 Score: [-] 312 [+].
< 1 >
Posted: 12 months ago by chez:
I just read about this before clickin' onto plime. Those poor babies! I hope they make it through ok.
Why are these idiots handling medication without knowing doses? I know it was placed incorrectly, but wtf? READ! You're treating newborns here, not making a f**king casserole!
Score: [-] 113 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by kakana:
« chez....You're treating newborns here, not making a f**king casserole! Exactly, WTF are the nurses doing.. crack? this is one of the most stupid things I've heard.
Further comments self deleted.. just because of the dumb MF's.
Score: [-] 68 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by dollyllama:
Going to email this to my old boss, he has a class action going against this drug.
On the other hand, it saved my father's life.
Score: [-] 89 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by DashFantastic:
can someone say lawsuit?
Score: [-] 51 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by pulsisx:
At a hospital near me they did the same thing. Turns out that the bottle for the adult doses and newborn doses look very similar and the doses are actually filled by robots. So someone put the wrong bottle in the wrong slot and the robot filled the needles with a pretty heavy OD.
Hope those kids are Ok and make it out without any damage.
Score: [-] 62 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by grandmaba:
Makes one a little nervous about hospitals. To often there are mistakes. My mother-in-law was given to high a does of meds from a pharmacy. It almost killed her.
Sure hope these inocent little ones make it okay.
Score: [-] 20 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by cb__:
« pulsisx:At a hospital near me they did the same thing. Turns out that the bottle for the adult doses and newborn doses look very similar and the doses are actually filled by robots. So someone put the wrong bottle in the wrong slot and the robot filled the needles with a pretty heavy OD.
Hope those kids are Ok and make it out without any damage. That was all over the news when it happened, didn't Cedars-Sinai -- well, everyone -- learn anything from that?? Not only were these babies given TWO incorrect doses, but "TMZ also reported that 13 other patients were also given a wrong Heparin dosage". That is freaking outrageous. And a complete failure of the system, if the mistake was perpetuated THAT many times. Good god.. Three things you always double- and even triple-check before giving are blood, insulin, and heparin. There is little to no room for error where they're concerned. I'm all for suing them. And not to benefit financially, but to get their attention in the only way you can sometimes.
/rant. I feel better now. Sort of. :(
Score: [-] 62 [+].
Posted: 12 months ago by WickedWish:
While I agree that this was a preventable error and should never have happened, I'd also like to say that nurses are human and make mistakes, too. I know that doesn't excuse the trauma and pain patients experience when these mistakes do happen, and there are protocols in place to reduce the occurence, but it isn't as ridiculous or unheard-of as you might think. 10 parts per million and 1000 parts per million of heparin are housed in identical vials in medication storage. I would like to clarify a couple of things, and I've attached the press release from the Chief Medical Officer of Cedars-Sinai. (1) There were three patients effected, not 13, and four others were tested as precaution. (2) After extensive testing, no patient was found to have negative side-effects from the "overdose." (3) Mr. Quaid's newborn twins are not NOW in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They were already in the NICU when this happened -- as can be inferred from the fact that there was IV placement that required a heparin flush to prevent clotting. Again, I am not saying that this is acceptable. It is a completely preventable mistake and those responsible should be held accountable. I just wouldn't rush to litigation.
Score: [-] 18 [+].
Posted: 8 months ago by cb__:
« WickedWish:While I agree that this was a preventable error and should never have happened, I'd also like to say that nurses are human and make mistakes, too. I know that doesn't excuse the trauma and pain patients experience when these mistakes do happen, and there are protocols in place to reduce the occurence, but it isn't as ridiculous or unheard-of as you might think. 10 parts per million and 1000 parts per million of heparin are housed in identical vials in medication storage. I would like to clarify a couple of things, and I've attached the press release from the Chief Medical Officer of Cedars-Sinai. (1) There were three patients effected, not 13, and four others were tested as precaution. (2) After extensive testing, no patient was found to have negative side-effects from the "overdose." (3) Mr. Quaid's newborn twins are not NOW in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They were already in the NICU when this happened -- as can be inferred from the fact that there was IV placement that required a heparin flush to prevent clotting. Again, I am not saying that this is acceptable. It is a completely preventable mistake and those responsible should be held accountable. I just wouldn't rush to litigation.
Thanks for the link and for the clarification as to the number of patients involved. I do sympathize with the nurse(s) who made the errors, I realize they are only human..but as a (critical care) nurse myself, I also know how little room for error there is in administering IV medications..and how important it is to be vigilant when giving not just all meds but most especially those packaged in varying dilutions. As far as the lawsuit, I'm so much more in favor of settling/resolving issues outside the courtroom as a rule, but feel differently in this situation. That's because the same error occurred in an Indiana hospital just prior to this incident..it was very widely-publicized and resulted in the manufacturer issuing an alert to hospitals nationwide to take extra care to avoid the same mistake. A lawsuit here, at least to me, would be entirely justified..if only for bringing due attention to preventing future occurrances, as those things mentioned above unfortunately weren't enough.
On the bright side, the babies are doing well and that, for sure, is the main thing.
Score: [-] 0 [+].
< 1 >