Dennis Quaid has returned (with Oprah) to the hospital where his twins were given an overdose of Heparin, a blood thinner. The babies, Thomas and Zoe, were 12 days old when they were admitted to hospital for a staph infection. They were accidentally given the wrong dose of Heparin, as the containers have small writing and similar blue lables.
Dennis has campaigned and litigated over this important issue, suing both the hospital and the drug company for failing to change the labels after a similar incident resulted in the death of three newborns in Indiana over a year before his children were injured. The Quaid children have no detectable lasting effects from the Heparin, but could easily have been killed:
In February 2009, Dennis returned to Cedars-Sinai for the first time since his twins were sent home. “Being here brings back a lot of memories…not all of them good,” he says. “But today, I feel like it’s a day to really go forward.”
Dennis meets Linda Burnes Bolton, the chief nursing officer who was called in the night his twins were given an overdose of Heparin. Linda says that night was life-changing for the nursing staff. “It was a wake-up call,” she says. “It served as a catalyst to find ways to prevent those errors.”
Cedars-Sinai has invested more than $100 million in new technology to make sure this kind of mistake never happens again. They’ve installed a computer bar code system for their medications, which helps to eliminate human error. Dr. Oz compares this technology to grocery store scanners.
Patient information must also be entered into a computer and is then checked multiple times. These computers are linked to automatic dispensing machines. “The key to this is that it dispenses only that dose that’s ordered,” Linda says.
Dennis says he applauds Cedars-Sinai for stepping up to the plate. “They spent a substantial amount of money, and they were very concerned about alleviating this [problem],” he says. “I think they really are up at the top now as far as raising the standard of care.”
Dr Oz, Oprah’s resident show doctor, appears on the episode with the Quaids and talks about ‘how to be a smart patient’ including simple ways of lessening the risk of bacteria, how to choose a hospital and how to speak to your doctor. The best bit of advice he gives, in my opinion, is to not be embarrassed or afraid to ask questions. He also suggests that when you’re getting surgery on, say, your right arm, write OPERATE HERE on your arm to ensure they don’t chose the wrong one.
Photos thanks to Oprah.com
Good for Dennis for standing strong and good for the hospital for making necessary changes.
good good good
And GOOD for the twins they are alive! 🙂
Those babies are darling! The little girl looks like Shiloh.
I don’t know what stone age Cedars-Sinai was living in, but hospitals have had barcode scanner programs like Medpoint for YEARS. I work in a very poor hospital in the ghetto of an urban city, and we’ve had it for atleast 5 years now. They’re not “raising the bar for standards of care” – they were running light years behind it.
Thank God they are healthy and something good came out from that nightmare. The twins are so cute.