People Magazine is reporting that Dennis and Kimberly Quaid have filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the drug Heparin, according to court documents filed in Cook County, Ill.
The lawsuit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages, claims the Baxter Healthcare Corporation, makers of the anti-coagulant Heparin, failed to properly label vials of its product and that the 10-units-per-milliliter vial and the 10,000-units-per-milliliter are virtually identical.
The Quaids assert that the company knew of previous dosage mix-ups, yet failed to recall shipments of the drug or properly warn hospitals of the dangers.
The couple’s children, Thomas Boone, and Zoe Grace, who were born on Nov. 8, were hospitalized on Nov. 20 after accidentally being given 1,000 times the recommended dose of Heparin on Nov. 18.
The suit alleges that the twins “suffered and will continue to suffer injuries” from the accident.
“On a negligence scale of one to 10, Baxter Corporation gets a 10,” the Quaids’ lawyer, Susan E. Loggans, tells People. “They knew medication errors due to product labeling resulted in death but failed to recall the drug. Each year there are 1.5 million medication errors in America – it is a national epidemic.”
A spokeswoman for Baxter, Erin Gardiner, said that: “We have not been served with a lawsuit related to this incident, so we cannot comment on the lawsuit itself.
She added: “This is not a product issue, the issue here is improper use of a product. Heparin is one of the most commonly used generic drugs in a hospital setting manufactured by seven companies in standard vials. It plays a vital role in the treatment of thousands of patients every day when administered and used properly.”
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