Toddler Dies After Heparin Overdose At Nebraska Hospital

Posted on 5th April 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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In a case that mirrors the near-tragedy that happened to actor Dennis Quaid’s twins, a toddler has died from an overdose of the blood thinner heparin at an Omaha, Neb., hospital. http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/24/texas-toddler-dies-nebraska-hospital-after-heparin-overdose.html

Almariah Duque, 23 months old, of Dallas, Texas, was at Nebraska Medical Center to receive organ transplants when was given the allegedly fatal dose of heparin. The hospital is investigating the child’s death.

An estimated 100,000 people die each year in hospitals as a result of medical mistakes, and heparin is typically high on the list of drugs involved in medication errors, according to an online story on eMaxHealth.com.

There’s a reason for that: Pediatric and adult doses of heparin used to come in bottles that had the same size and shape, with just a slight difference in their blue color. Heparin’s manufacturer, Baxter International, redesigned the bottle’s labels to try to prevent future mistakes with the medication. There is now a red caution label on the vials that must be removed before they can be opened.

But the drug maker didn’t recall the old heparin bottles.

Quaid and his wife Kimberly made preventable medical errors their cause celebre after an incident in 2007 when their twins were accidentally given 1,000 times the common dosage of heparin at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The babies began bleeding, and had to be given protamine sulfate to counteract the heparin’s effect. The twins were hospitalized for 12 days.

On the CBS show “60 Minutes,” Quaid said he had learned that accidental heparin overdoses often happened. He and his wife have created the Quaid Foundation to raise awareness about medical mistakes that are fatal.