Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
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'I Am Not Sure Even a Lab Rat Had Ever Received Such a High Dose of Heparin...'
May 14, 2008 9:57 AM
"But the twins were not fine, In fact they were fighting for their lives. Their now WATER-THIN BLOOD was flowing out of every place that they had been poked and prodded. They faced the very real possibility of hemorrhaging through a vein or artery, causing massive brain damage or failure of one of their vital organs...THEY WERE BOTH SCREAMING IN PAIN and God only knows what they were feeling. I AM NOT SURE EVEN A LAB RAT HAD EVER RECEIVED SUCH A HIGH DOSE OF THE HEPARIN THAT WAS CAUSING THEM TO BLEED OUT. At one point as the doctors tried to clamp shut a bleeding wound in the remnant of T-Boone's umbilical cord, BLOOD SPURTED SIX FEET ACROSS THE ROOM AND SPLATTERED ON THE WALL. The bleeding went on all day...KIMBERLY and I DID A LOT OF PRAYING."
The man who will deliver that testimony to Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee on WEDNESDAY is actor Dennis Quaid. Kimberly is his wife. Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace are their very young twins, who became the victims of a very horrible hospital mistake that nearly killed them. Instead of using Hep-Lock which contains just 10 units of a blood thinner to clean out the IV lines attached to their arms, a nurse mistakenly gave the twins 10,000 units of the drug heparin which was 1,000 times the normal 10 unit dose of Hep-lock they should have received. And it didn't happen just once. Later in the day the mistake was repeated and ANOTHER 10,000 units of heparin was administered.
The twins survived and seem to be alright so far. Quaid, who says he once believed frivolous lawsuits were a big problem in this country, is now suing Baxter Healthcare corporation the maker of both the 10 unit Hep-Lock and the bottle of heparin given his young children. He says the bottles containing the two medicines looked too similar and when the drug maker eventually realized that and changed both the look and labeling, it failed to recall the old ones. Quaid is also on a crusade. He is fighting efforts to bar most lawsuits over drugs as long as the drugs have been approved for marketing by the FDA. He says he now believes that the "COURTS ARE OFTEN THE ONLY PATH TO JUSTICE FOR FAMILIES THAT ARE HARMED BY THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY and MEDICAL ERRORS."
May 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (2)
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It's sad our legal system is abused by people it's meant to protect and not protected by judges and lawyers who do what is right in their own mind. The company marked and colored the medication vials differently. The accident was clearly human error...look at the vials...different colored vial tops...different colored labels...different named labels...different numbered labels 10 vice 10,000.
Posted by: Dan Novak | May 15, 2008 9:31:33 PM
Dan- I am a nurse and when you are dealing with potentially a hundred meds a day, human error is the most terrifying thing that can happen. The difference in the colors is only alarming if you see both at the same time. When it is put in the wrong place, there for you to grab and look at- the error is not as obvious as you think. When I have 7 or 8 patients with all their meds in one shift; errors can happen. Most of my patients are not even fully aware of the meds that they take. They will tell you "I take a little pink pill", or "my water pill", or even- "I don't know, my daughter gives them to me." The more meds that are on the market, the more margin for error.I wish I knew the answer. Until then, we as nurses pray every day that we do what we were taught in school to deliver medications safely.
Posted by: Nancy nurse | Jul 10, 2008 3:34:39 PM
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