On November 8, 2007 Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly proudly announced the birth of their twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace. The twins were born through a surrogate mother and Thomas weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces and Zoe weighed 5 pounds 9 ounces at birth. You can imagine how ecstatic the Quaids were to have their new additions born in time for the holidays. Well, now a medical mix-up has placed the children in great harm as well as in intensive care, and vast amounts of people are praying for the safe and speedy recovery of these newborn twins.
Twins are susceptible to many conditions. They are often born prematurely and spend some length of time in the prenatal intensive care unit to ensure that they are ready to handle the routines of home life. There is great concern regarding the maturity of newborn twins’ lungs as premature babies are often at an increased risk for developing lung infections. Due to these increased risks, it is important to ensure that babies are physically ready to leave the hospital. However, the one thing no one expects is that newborn twins will spend time in the prenatal intensive care unit due to a mix up on the part of hospital staff. This is what happened to Dennis and Kimberly’s twins when a mix up occurred and Baby Thomas and Grace were inadvertently given 10,000 units of Heparin instead of the recommended 10 units.
Heparin is used to prevent blood clots from forming and is an anticoagulant. The mix up occurred as the drug Heparin was flushed through an IV. The recommended dose was 10 units per milliliter of Intravenous fluid, but instead 10,000 units were administered and reports state that Thomas and Grace Quaid were among those who received the extremely high doses. The children are in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit and our prayers are with the Quaid family at this difficult time.
The Quaids have requested privacy during this time and understandably so. However, what must be addressed is the responsibility that the hospital will take for this mistake. Currently, the hospital spokesperson is not commenting on the situation citing patient’s privacy laws.
This isn’t the first time that children have been harmed by a Heparin overdose. The effect can be devastating as well as fatal. A simple Google search will bring up many stories relating to similar incidents and the heartbreak that ensued after these tragic dosing mistakes. Like the Quaid case, most mix-ups occur when a hospital staff member inadvertently stores an adult dosage in a cabinet designed for babies, infants, and children. Hopefully, the hospital will pay restitution to the Quaids and the other victims and take steps to ensure that this type of mistake never occurs again.
According to the website TMZ as many as thirteen patients received the wrong dose but this hasn’t been established as fact. The twins are reported to be in stable condition however they are still fighting for their lives.
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