Dennis Quaid’s ex-wife Kimberly and their infant twins were caught in an accidental drug overdose and faced the most difficult day of their lives.
Medical error is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Unfortunately, it also accounts for a large percentage of infant mortality. This statistic was almost reached by comedian Dennis Quaid’s fraternal twins, Zoe and Thomas.
The story of the Quaid twins went viral in 2007 after a nurse accidentally administered an overdose of Heparin, a blood-thinning injection, on them, which nearly claimed their lives.
Dennis Quaid at SiriusXM Studios on December 02, 2019.
THE UNFORTUNATE OCCURRENCE
Dennis and Kimberly Quaid, his wife at the time, couldn’t be happier to have their first child via surrogacy in November 2007. But their joy was short-lived when they found out about the terrible accident that had happened to their children.
One night before the discovery parents left their 10-day-old children at the hospital. They called the clinic at 9:45 p.m. after a bad headache to check on the babies. They were assured by a nurse that the children were fine.
But they soon discovered the ruse when they arrived at the hospital to discover that medical experts were working 24 hours a day to save the babies.
Cedars-Sinai Hospital Los Angeles had a liability division, which included lawyers geared up for risk management. It was then that the parents found out that their twins received two adult doses Heparin. The dose was 1000 times stronger than the infant.
As a result, their blood became thin to the consistency water and caused them to bleed uncontrollably through every open part of their bodies. Dennis described this terrifying situation as a matter of life and death. It could have been avoided if nurses had taken the time to read the labels before they gave the doses.
More than the hospital or its employees, the couple also blamed drug manufacturers for failing to properly differentiate the bottles and labels during manufacturing.
RISK MANAGEMENT
The Quaids were even more upset when they discovered that three of six infants had died in Indianapolis a year earlier from the same expensive mistake.
Doctors and nurses attempted to stop the crisis for approximately 40 hours by administering Heparin antidotes, among other blood-coagulating treatment, to the children.
The twins finally stabilized and spent the next 12 days slowly recovering in hospital. Fortunately, Thomas was able to survive and Zoe was able to go home with her parents.
THE AFTERMATH
Dennis and Kimberly eventually reached a $750,000 settlement against Cedars-Sinai Hospital. They also sued the Heparin-manufacturing company Baxter International for negligence.
The company issued a safety alert across the country and introduced a new peel off label to distinguish the infant dose after the deaths of the Indianapolis infants. It denied that the Quaid twins were overdosed.
They stated that it was the duty of doctors to properly read labels before prescribing any drug.
Cedars-Sinai followed suit. automated measuresin place to curb human errors in drug administration, hence saving hundreds of thousands of adults and infants from dying due to such negligence.
Dennis and Kimberly also took a life-saving step after their overdose. They established an organization to educate the public about the dangers of medical errors in humans and help bring those responsible to justice.
WHAT PARENTS HAD to SAY
While the encounter emotionally drained the parents, it opened their eyes to the abnormality in the failed health system. Dennis Recalled: “These mistakes that occurred to us are not unique. And they are not unique even to Cedars. They happen in every hospital, in every state in this country.”
After years of research, the actor realized that at least 100 000 people died each year from preventable medical errors.
THE BETRAYAL
The parents were more upset when an employee at the hospital allegedly abused their children. leaked the information about their twins’ accident to the media, despite the hospital’s reassurance of secrecy.
Cedars’ feelings of betrayal were intensified when close family members, who they had kept the sad news from all along got to hear it on TMZ.
The prestigious Cedars-Sinai put their kids’ lives in danger. They also broke their confidentiality by refusing to reveal the state of the twins to them for nearly 24 hours, until they reached the clinic the next day.
Dennis Quaid claims his twins are “perfectly normal” after a 2007 overdose at a hospital https://t.co/JCAlGl64ON pic.twitter.com/De4P097OWm
— People (@people) December 7, 2015
Dennis expresses his feeling of betrayal. : “Our kids could have been dying, and we wouldn’t have been able to come down to the hospital to say goodbye.”The couple’s dissatisfaction towards the hospital was only exacerbated by the leakage of information to media outlets.
THE QUAID TWINS NOW
As the years progressed, a few tests were performed on the children to make sure there were no side effects. 13-year-old Zoe and Thomas are now healthy and happy, and serve as living proof of a medical miracle.
Their stories had a significant impact on the medical system. It made physicians more attentive to medication administration and encouraged pharmaceutical companies to explore safer methods of administering drugs.
Dennis interviewed in 2015 for a TV interview.Confirmed both kids were doing amazingly well eight years later and even topped the class academically. Side effects aside, this is a very desirable result!