Dennis Quaid Settles With Ceders-Sinai Over Twins OD

Dennis Quaid and his wife have settled their dispute with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center over a procedure that almost killed their twin babies last year.

The infants were mistakenly given a massive overdose of Heparin.

According to court documents, Quaid and his wife Kimberly have accepted a settlement of $750,000 from the Los Angeles hospital, which last year took responsibility for giving the babies a life-threatening overdose of blood thinners.

Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone Quaid, now both 1, were being treated at Cedars for staph infections in November 2007 when an employee accidentally administered dosages of heparin (commonly used to flush out I.V.s) that were 1,000-times the recommended amounts for newborns, 10,000 units per millileter apiece instead of the standard 10.

Cedars was fined $25,000 earlier this year by the California Department of Public Health for "multiple failures by the facility to adhere to established policies and procedures for safe medication use."

Though they never sued Cedars, the Quaids, blaming poorly labeled bottles, sued heparin manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corporation for negligence last December.

Quaid also testified before Congress in May against a proposed statute that would make it more difficult for patients to take pharmaceutical companies to court.

Once a judge signs off on the Quaids' deal with Cedars, the couple will no longer be able to pursue litigation against the hospital as part of a good-faith stipulation in the settlement, although they could sue on their children's behalf for future consequences of the accident.

The Cedars settlement does not affect the Quaids' lawsuit against Baxter.
source