Well, this explains a lot…
Ever since Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins were accidentally given a near-fatal overdose of the blood thinner Heparin by staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last fall I (along with millions of others) wondered why the actor chose not to sue the hospital for negligence. After all, Quaid and his wife took almost instant legal action against the drug maker for not labeling the blood thinner correctly. So, why let the hospital off the hook?
The famous couple finally answered that question a few days ago.
Apparently, the Quaid’s are not letting Cedars off so easy. Two days ago the actor announced that he is planning to sue staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center if they refuse to introduce a bar-code system to prevent medical mishaps.
The “Rookie” star made the comments at the annual meeting of the Association of Healthcare Journalists. While there he detailed the horrific ordeal his entire family endured as a result of the medical mistake. Quaid recounted how his newborn babies had to fight for their lives while bleeding out from the massive overdose.
The actor insists the tragedy could have been avoided if there was a better system of marking medicines. He also revealed that he gave hospital administrators a chance to “make things right” by improving patient safety, including implementing a bar-code system that scans all medication before it is administered to patients—-to avoid errors like the one that almost cost his newborns their lives.
“We want them to do the right thing,” Quaid told the health reporters. “We’re still waiting, although time is running short for us.”
It would be naïve of me to ask what Cedars administrators are waiting for. After all, I don’t know how much time or money it would take to overhaul their system, but I also know it couldn’t be as bad as facing a lawsuit from a famous actor and dealing with the avalanche of bad press that would follow.
According to reports, California regulators fined hospital bosses $25,000 after concluding the failure of staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to follow their own procedures resulted in incorrect doses of the drug being administered to Quaid’s infants and other children.
Frankly, I think the hospital caught a break from Quaid. But now it appears the actor’s patience is wearing thin.
“They have a bar-code system in every checkout stand of every supermarket in the country, so how could it be so complicated,” Quaid remarked to the hundreds of health journalists.
What’s more, America’s top medical experts have also recommended the system.
So what is Cedars waiting for?