Celebrity News November 20, 2007
Update: Hospital Apologizes for 'Preventable Error'
"Dennis and Kimberly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and hope they can maintain their privacy at this difficult time."
Their newborn twins are reportedly in the neo-natal intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after accidentally receiving massive amounts of an anti-blood clot drug.
Today, the hospital released a statement apologizing for the "preventable error" that occurred with three unidentified patients receiving heparin. The hospital did not directly comment on the Quaid twins.
"I want to extend my deepest apologies to the families who were affected by this situation, and we will continue to work with them on any concerns or questions they may have," said Dr. Michael L. Langberg, chief medical officer at Cedars. "This was a preventable error, involving a failure to follow our standard policies and procedures, and there is no excuse for that to occur at Cedars-Sinai. Although it appears at this point that there was no harm to any patient, we take this situation very seriously."
He continued, "As a result of a preventable error, the patients' IV catheters were flushed with heparin from vials containing a concentration of 10,000 units per milliliter instead of from vials containing a concentration of 10 units per milliliter. The error was identified by Cedars-Sinai staff, who immediately performed blood tests on the patients to measure blood clotting function."
Ultimately, two patients had to be given a drug to reverse the effects of the drug and restore blood clotting to normal.
"Additional medical tests and clinical evaluation conducted on the two patients indicated no adverse effects from the higher concentration of heparin or from the temporary abnormal clotting function," Langberg said. "Doctors continue to monitor the patients."