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Quaid: "Our Kids Could Have Been Dying"

Tue., Jan. 15, 2008 3:28 PM PST by Julie Keller

Though his infant twins have fully recovered from their scary medical incident, Dennis Quaid and his wife are still fired up.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in his first interview since the event, the actor said he was misled by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center staff into thinking his kids were safe and healthy the night they endured the side effects of a severe drug overdose. Quaid claims a nurse told him the kids were "just fine" when he called on Nov. 18 to check on them before turning in for the night.

It turns out the children were far from fine. Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace were mistakenly given 1,000 times the recommended dose of the blood thinner heparin to treat a staph infection. Quaid says that neither he nor his wife, Kimberly, were notified of the mistake as staff members worked through the night to reverse the serious effects of the overdose.

"Our kids could have been dying, and we wouldn't have been able to come down to the hospital to say goodbye," Quaid told the newspaper in Tuesday's edition.

The In Good Company star says he was furious when he arrived at 6:30 a.m. the next day and that treatment decisions had been made without his consent. Instead of arriving to find two healthy babies, he was met by a pediatrician, a nurse and a risk management department rep.

Though they had received an antidote, the overdose had left the children's blood too thin to clot, which resulted in uncontrollable bleeding every time a bandage was changed, according to Kimberly Quaid.

"They were in incubators with cords attached to them and monitors, and you could barely hold them," she told the Times. "Every time you'd move them, the alarms would sound...The stress was overwhelming."

The couple went on to say they felt betrayed by the hospital and believe the news of the overdose was leaked to the media by hospital staff. This further infuriated them and caused a great deal of heartache for friends and family who learned of the incident through Internet reports rather than from the couple themselves. "We were told that it was not a big deal," Kimberly Quaid said. "We figured we'd be home in a couple days and nobody would know any different. That wasn't the case."

Cedars-Sinai has since changed its policy regarding the administering of heparin. A spokesman also offered the following statement: "Throughout the course of their children's hospitalization and continuing today, we have reached out to the Quaids to discuss any concerns or questions they have. We would like to continue to discuss all of these and any other concerns directly with the Quaids to identify and resolve any questions."

Susan E. Loggans, the Quaids' lawyer, says her clients haven't yet decided if they are going to sue Cedars-Sinai, telling the Times, "We want to see how they respond. We'd like to give them a chance to right a wrong."

They are, however, moving forward with their lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare Corp., one of the manufacturers of heparin. The Quaids claim that the product labeling and design led to the error. Baxter reps say the mistake was a result of improper use and the company is not at fault.

As for little Thomas and Zoe, who were born Nov. 8 to a surrogate, they seem to have made a full recovery, something Dennis Quaid credits to "prayer" rather than the skill of the Cedars-Sinai team.

"We have our babies back, and they seem to be doing great, and they're just a lot of fun to be with," he said.

In the meantime, the couple is planning to start a foundation to promote patient safety.