Suing Mad!
Filed under: Legal Matters
Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the makers of Heparin, a the blood thinner which was given to the couple's infants in overdose amounts last month.
The lawsuit places the blame on the drug manufacturer, because the 10-unit vial and the 10,000-unit vials of the medication look the same.
As a result of the accidental overdose, the papers claim, twins "ZOE GRACE QUAID and THOMAS BOONE QUAID, suffered and will continue to suffer injuries of a pecuniary nature."
[Image via WENN.]
Posted: December 4, 2007 at 4:26 pm
first
poor babies
Perez is a FAT IDIOT
FIRST!
hmmmm
They should
first!
FIRST
good luck, Dennis!! first?
FIRST
i don't blame them 4 suing, i would 2.
oh boy
Wouldn't it make more sense to sue the hospital for negligence?
I am sorry that happened to his babies…But because of his public image, maybe that will never happen again to someone else's baby…Good for him for sueing…It may save someone's life…
xox, ilona rose
shit i would too
Maybe this will cause the makers to ensure that there can be no confusing the dosages! Good for them.
i don't blame theme, i would do the same
as they should file suit…that is so shitty and sad.
first!!!!!!yah!!
Good for Dennis & Kimberly - I SO would have sued, too! This isn't the first time that this kind of a dosage mix-up has occured due to poor labeling on the Heperin bottles. The company has promised to fix the labling problem in the past (when OTHER overdosages occured due to the SAME error) but they NEVER FIXED THE LABEL. In my humble opinion, the company shares part of the blame, so they should pay.
Yeah, sue those bastards, because the overdose had NOTHING to do with it.
Tools.
He should sue the hospital…idiots
can you blame him? Those are his kids… What if they (or the other infants that were treated w/ Hepiren died??)
The pharmacutical company is now paying the price
GOOD! I hope those sweet little babies are OK. Those bastards should pay bigtime.
pe·cu·ni·ar·y /pɪˈkyuniˌɛri/ –adjective
1. of or pertaining to money: pecuniary difficulties.
2. consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments: pecuniary tributes.
3. (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine.
ie: THEY'RE POOR!!!!
poor dennis quaid.
I would be suing the HOSPITAL because those NURSES should've been checking the DOSAGE ON THE VIAL!!!! it's NOT the mfg. co. fault that the nurses CAN"T READ A LABEL!!! THAT'S PHARMACOLOGY 101 PEOPLE!!!
Why are they suing the makers??? Shouldn't they sue the hospital and the crazy ass nurse who injected all those people with the wrong doses.
Give us more details on the death of PIMP C FROM UGK.
I would sue for a billion. Thier babies almost died for Gods sake.
50,000?! That's a drop in the bucket, he should just say fuck it if he wants to sue for such a small amount. That won't pay thier college tuition
My heart goes out to the Quaid family…This should be a joyous time for the parents, yet they're going through something that could have completely been avoided if someone just took another minute to look at the medicine in their hands. Those babies will need more care and love than ever now…
Are you people stupid? He is suing the drug maker because some idiot nurse wasn't paying attention and gave the kids the wrong dosage. The drug maker had nothing to do with her negligence. The nurse and the hospital are clearly at fault. This looks like a case of going after wherever the money is.
pecuniary means money…?
Surprised they didn't include Cedars/Nurse(s)/Attending Physician(s) etc. etc.
Good for them. They deserve it all. They should also sue the hospital that overdossed the babies for hiring dumbass nurses..people should be held accountable when they fuck up.
Wow this is such a fucked up thing to happen. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to nurses, doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies to pay more attention to detail. It's a complete outrage and these are poor helpless babies.
The exact same thing happened at Methodist Hospital here in Indianapolis earlier this year. At least 2 babies died from the mix up. It should have never happened again. I hope he gets a shit load of money from the company.
Pecuniary means money, so does that mean they have money problems???
How about sue that dumb bitch nurse who administered that drug not once but twice in one day??? She should have called the dr to confirm the order. My aunt is a nurse and she said the bottles are different in size, so theres no way to mix it up. That stuuuuuupid nurse she be held responsible, and should also have her license revoked.
The vials should have been color coded to prevent any kind of mistake. The thing is, whoever gave the babies the medication was responsible for reading the label before administering it. Please pray these children and their well-being.
This was clearly an honest mistake and those things happen all the time. People aren't perfect. However, as for sueing the Drug company…SUE AWAY. Those bastards make more money than they know what to do with and if they can't do something to make one product distinguishabe from another, then they deserve to be sued. Even making one product a different color than the other would work. Too easy!
They deserve every penny and that doesn't even cover what they must be going through! My heart goes out to them
That is STUPID!!! To sue the makers if Heparin is ridiculous. It isn't their fault that the staff at the hospital was incompetent and screwed up. They need to be suing the hospital….not the makers of Heparin.
they should sue the hospital NOT the makers of heparin. all hospitals should have a system in which at least 2 people should sign to verify dosages of all medications. this is grossly negligent.
stupid bitch dumb bitch nurse
Pecuniary means an award that is meant to punish and deter future behavior….It makes perfect sense for this family to go after the drug manufacturers - deeper pockets and even if they found the hospital/nurses liable the payout would be pretty small….Going after the drug manufacturers will set more of an example - all the attorney will have to do is prove there was a defect with the drug (labeling included) and that it was unreasonably dangerous (which it proved to be)….
At least they are putting the blame squarely where it belongs…on the shoulders of the manufacturer. I pray that their babies will be all right.
This is why Negroes should NEVER be put in positions of responsibility. Cleaning toilets in hospital, OK. Dispensing medicine (which involves reading…), NEVER!
So what if the vials look alike. You can't expect a drug company to make different vials for each drug they manufacture. It is up to the hospital staff to read the freaking dosage.
I have a medical condition that requires me to use Heparin on a weekly basis. This has gone on for my entire life. And, the nurses that administer it to me have NEVER made a mistake. Why? Because they are smart enough to read the label on the vial each time.
If you sue the drug manufacturer, it is like saying, "The nurses and hospital staff don't have to take responsibility!"
um, the labels look alike except one says 10 and one says 10,000. Maybe people should do their job and read labels so they dont kill people.
They are suing the drug company because that is where the money is, and because if they sue the hospital then they may have trouble getting their babies cared for down the road. Plain and simple
By the way, I also take other medications. Two of them are in vials that look the same as Heparin….but, they are by different manufacturers. So, are all drug companies supposed to make sure that each drug has unique packaging? This is utterly retarded.
He should sue. The company, the hospital and the stupid idiot who put the wrong stuff in the wrong place!
Sue them all. The hospital should have NOTICED a labeling error and these sorts of errors occuring in other cases.
Fuck those guys. Seriously.
I think *pecuniary* may mean that the parents will face future, unknown expenses, perhaps extra care, special ed, Oh God. How horrible to have these two little blessings lives potentially ruined and the grief that is with loving parents.
I have NO SYMPATHY for the drug manufacturers and NO SYMPATHY for the staff at Cedars.
They were grossly irresponsible.
I do agree that the nurses should have been more careful in administering the medication, and I think they need to look into their procedure for administering Heparin. At the children's hospital we take our daughter to, heparin is one of the drugs for which two nurses must verify the dosage, so it's hard for me to understand how this was overlooked (not to mention who brought the ADULT dosage to the NICU!). But this has happened before in different hospitals with different nurses, the most recent that I recall being in Indianapolis. So I would say they are right to sue the drug manufacturer - they NEED to change the label/container.
Those poor parents. Having babies in the NICU is hard enough without having something like this happen.
It actually makes perfect sense to sue the drug companies. They're the ones who repeatedly make similar labels despite the fact that this happens a lot more than most people know about. Clearly the nurse is first in line to blame, but you'd figure after one baby dies because of something like this, they would think to take an extra precautionary measure to protect their asses.
#48 post needs to be REMOVED!
he doesn't have a case - not the manufacturer's fault the nurse/doctor didn't bother to read the label. sue the hospital for negligence, you dummy!
I'm glad they suing, this whole situation is so tragic and it was completely preventable! I hope his babies will completely recover in time.
Re: Desert Gal – You are so very right about that. When the nurses administer the drug isn't it dispensed by syringe? The syringe has markings that read the dosage.
It is the hospital's liability.
It's a good idea for Heparin to change how the vials look but suing them?! Come on! Nurses spend 4+ years in University. Perhaps they should charge the nurse who couldn't read! Why weren't they checking what they were giving the babies before it was administered?!
What Dennis really needs to do is sue that damn hospital and its incompetent staff of "medical professionals". This situation is so tragic. I wish him and his family the best…
when you file a lawsuit you name anyone and everyone.. their real issue are the bottles because they want to protect people.. not punish people. Ever heard of Sterno you guys? the bottles are the thing.
Yes, the compnay should not make the medicine vials so similiar, BUT, the NURSE is the one who should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS double and triple check the medication that they are giving. It's amazing to me that a nurse did not look at the label before she gave two newborns an adult doasge of a very powerful medicine. Also, the person who put the medicine in the wrong spot should be punished as well, but what it really all comes down to is the person administering the medication. They are ultimately responsible for what they inject to the body. I feel so horrible for his family, I hope those babies come through this well and will be okay.
FIRST OFF, why are we to assume that the nurse was female? There are plenty of male nurses in hospitals nowadays and the assumption that we need to show the "dumb bitch" a thing or two is completely ludicrous.
And it is COMPLETELY useless to sue a multi-billion dollar drug corporation because "their vials look the same." ALL DRUGS COME IN SIMILAR BOXES. It is how life works. If you made every single drug in the world come in a uniquely identifiable box can you imagine how much MORE confusing it would be?
If all of the heparins are put together in the same sort of box, at least you know you'd be grabbing heparin and not warfarin (teratogenic) or some other medication.
It is SOLELY the responsibility of the person who is dispensing it, in this case, the nurse to double and triple check to make sure that they're dispensing the correct medication.
I agree completely with a prior poster - this is most certainly a case of going after where the money is from.
Billion dollar drug company or Million dollar hospital?
This IS NOT the company's fault. I am the FIRST to jump up at a chance to sue evil corporations - pharmaceutical ones included. But this is not such a case!
This is clearly a mistake by a careless nurse who needs to have her liscence revoked asap. The bottles ARE different sizes and paediatric dosing has special guidelines. These weren't adhered to and this is how such errors occur. Greedy ass hole probably just wants all the money he can get.
He's being alot calmer than I would be. I'd take the idiot who injected the babies by the throat and shove the first 10,000 units of the first substance I could find.
~And then blame it on the label.
Um… what does "pecuniary" mean?
Don't blame him one bit. I would do the same thing. I'm sure a lawsuit against the hospital is shortly underway.
I work in health care (hospital side), and trust me when I say this is not the fault of the drug company. A hospital and their staff, especially when it comes to dispensing drugs, have protocols, checks and balances in place so these mistakes do not happen. Obviously a mistake was made and protocols were not followed, and it could have been deadly.
There are thousands of drugs out there, and it's impossible to make each one look unique. They are required to list the important information such as the name, dosage, etc. - and then it's the person's job who is dispensing the drug (the pharmacist and nurse, typically) to make sure it's the right stuff. I'm sorry, but they are suing the wrong people here.
I would also sue the hospital for screwing up too! Just because the bottles look the same doesn't mean you don't read the label! When working with babies they should have been more carefull.
LAST!
LAST!
Good. They should. That is just outrageous behavior by the hospital. Totatlly negligent system not to make the vials readily distinguishable.
Good! Sue the pants off their ass Dennis & Mrs. Quaid. $$$
What a pair of whiny losers. So what if the bottles look the same? It's not like Heparin is an over the counter medication. It's up to the medical professionals dispensing the dug to pay attention. This is like suing Smirnoff because their bottles are the same color as Absolut. Sue the moron doctors or nurse who fucked up.
It's because of assholes like Dennis Quaid and his wife that prescription drugs are so damn expensive.
www.tenderloin.net
oh fuck, what idiots. they are suing the wrong people.
Good for them! If this had happened to my husband and I when my son was born…….They would have to call security on our asses because I'd be ready to hurt someone!!
It should be the NURSES who are sued…NOT the drug company. If the nurses had followed protocol (which is to check a med THREE times before it is given!)…this would NOT have happened!!! Heparin is not the only label that looks alomst IDENTICAL; so does Insulin….don't see anyone suing them for insulin O.D.'s do ya???
They're suing the wrong people. They should sue the hospital for negligence. Heparin should not be stocked in the Pediatric Units as vials, but they have premixed Heparins that can be safely given to babies. Sue the hospital and not the company. The nurse who gave it was not careful enough. There are 5 R's to follow: Right patient, right drug, right time, right dosage, right administration.
Good for them! No parents should EVER have to go through anything like what these poor souls have had to endure. Those sweet little babies don't deserve what they accidentally had happen to them, and I'm soooo glad that Mom and Pop Quaid are doing something about it. The drug manufacturer should get sued!
Why sue the damn drug company???? I saw pics of those bottles and while the bottle shapes are similar, the labels and caps are DIFFERENT colors. Blame the fukking nurses. They should be CHECKING CHECKING CHECKING and then RECHECKING whenever administering ANY drug. Blame the gd nurses for not being careful.
x
This story is so sad. If this happened to my child I would go sue happy. This should NEVER happen especially when it comes from people you are supposed to trust. While accidents do happen, something like this SHOULDN'T.
Also, the manufacturer should change the labels and make the differences clearly visible. My mom is a nurse and I understand that stresses they work under on a daily basis. Yes, it was their fault for not double checking the labels, but…when you are in a stressful environment like a hospital sometimes things like that can get over looked and something simple like changing the colors of the labels would be an EXTRA help to the nurses administering the meds.
But, like I said earlier, if this happened to my kid I'd sure every one involved. Thank God those babies didn't die.
Btw, injuries of a pecuniary nature means that whatever the effects of the overdose was on them, they will always need medical attention for it which will cost money. Something like this shouldn't happen and they are right to sue. Even if Dennis Quaid is loaded with money doesn't mean he should sit back and not sue.
They SHOULD be sued…they said last year after 3 babies died in Indy that they would change the labeling to two widely diferent colors and they NEVER DID!!!
"Pecuniary" means having to do with or pertaining to money. Are they saying that the damage to the twins was only financial and not physicial?
While it's sad this happened to the children, it is NOT the drug makers fault. If they sue anyone it should be the hopsital and the nurse that gave the babies the drugs.
Doesn't anyone bother to read the label before injecting meds. Only kindergarten kids need color coding.
I hate that happened
I hope through this IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!!
SUE THEM ALL, DENNIS!!!!!!!
Maybe it should be looked into the fact that the nurse probably was overworked, due to the fact that their is a shortage. You couldn't pay many nurses anything to make them stay. It is a crummy job and the nurse always catches the blame. Nurses are not superheroes, you overwork them, they will make mistakes!
Dennis, welcome to a nurse's world! We deal with confusion like that everyday. But, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. The actions of heparin are easily reversed by protamine sulfate. Maybe he should be suing the hospital where the heparin was given for not handling the situation properly?
I think they are both at fault, the nurse and the drug company…possibly the hospital too. The drug company for having two bottles with different doses of the same drug far too similar looking and the nurse for not checking more carefully which strength she was grabbing. The hospital should be more vigilant in setting guidelines to prevent his sort of thing happening, although maybe they were and it was just not followed through.
that is so sad. they should sue the hospital too.
I'm behind on this story. I saw Dennis with the babies in the car seats did they go home and then have to go back to the hospital? Why? What's the timeline?
THX
What The CRAP…..IT WASNT THE DRUG COMPANY DUHHHH..IT WAS THE HOSPITAL …GIVE ME A BREAK…JUST CONFIRMS HES AN ASSHOLE LOOKING FOR MONEY BECAUSE HE CANT MAKE A GOOD MOVIE.GOOD LUCK WITH THAT…
WHO CAN FUCKING BLAME HIM ??????????????????
it's disgusting to think of what happened to their little babies…I don't blame them for suing.
Good for them! I recent article reports that doctors do NOT report each other for making medical mistakes - they let them slide. That's bullshit. Celebrity or not, no one deserves to take their child to the hospital and perhaps never bring them home.
the drug company's name is baxter international and he is suing the wrong person. just because he wants to ruin baxter's reputation doesn't mean he should sue them. he should sue the lame nurse who can't read a label.
I think they should be suing the hospital, not the drug company.