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TMZ has learned that Dennis Quaid's newborn twins are fighting for their lives after being inadvertently overdosed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Sources tell us the twins -- Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace -- were accidentally given a massive dose of Heparin, an anti-coagulant. Babies typically get 10 units. Our sources say they were each mistakenly given 10,000 units. The drug is used to flush out IV lines and prevent blood clots. We're told one dose was given on Sunday morning, another on Sunday evening.
We're told late Sunday night, both babies started to "bleed out." Both babies are now at Cedars in the neo-natal intensive care unit where we're told they are stable.
The twins were born to Quaid and wife Kimberly Buffington November 8 via surrogate.
A rep for Quaid did not immediately return our call for comment and there was no immediate comment from Cedars.
We're told a technician stored the Heparin in the wrong place, and when a nurse grabbed the medicine for the babies without looking -- it was the wrong dosage. 
A source says the babies are now being given Protamine, which reverses the effects of Heparin.
UPDATE: We're told as many as thirteen patients at Cedars were mistakenly given the overdose of Heparin, but the effects are more critical because of the age and weight of the twins.
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Reader Comments
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If thirteen other persons were "accidentally" give the medication, I think hospital heads should be investigating. There could be another "angel of death" working at Cedars.
The idiot that put the medictions in the wrong place needs to go down the road, along with the nurse who gave the injections "without looking". Duuuh!
RE: 142, MOM COMMENTS AS ABOVE. MY SON LOVES APPLE JUICE STILL. PLEASE PARENTS, AND BABYSITTERS .........ASK THE QUESTIONS.. THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS.. JUST VERY STUPID MISTAKES FOR THESE TWINS. THEY WILL PULL THROUGH...GOD KNOWES WE WNAT THEM HERE FOR NOW. ALSO, PARENTS, GETTING A BABYSITTER ?????????? I WENT TO THE HIGH SCHOOL AND REQUIRED AT THE HOME EC. DEPT. ALSO, I NEVER LEFET MY KIDS FOR LONG UNTIL THEY COULD TALK...YOU WOULD NOT BELIVE WHAT I HAVE HEARD..THEY WERE BETTER OFF ON THEIR OWN-------------BLESS TO THESE BABIES AND TO YOU ALL..FOR THE SUPPORT THIS FAMILY IS RECEIVING..
God Bless those babies and the family. The responsible party/parties should be held accountable and driven from the medical profession after facing criminal charges of deriliction of duty. No parent deserves such a travesty/tragedy. May the lord keep those babies safe and give them a speedy recovery with no lasting side effects.
We are just remembering the life of a loved one that was given the wrong medicine and died from it.. It was 8 yrs ago this month.. I pray the twins recover and these "mistakes" don't happen ever again.. Life is too precious to not pay attention!
Thanks "Great Balls of Fire". I did read it. And see the picture of Dennis carrying the babies in their seats. So, they were born healthy, are almost 2 weeks old, and apparently not hospitalized. I guess they must have been hospitalized, but, as a former NICU RN, I don't know why heparin would be administered to these babies. Blood clots? Both of them? IV's?
Just wonder what the health issues were before this overdose!
PLEASE...do not think that all nurses are in it for the money. First , nurses do not make as much as you think, and second some of us are in this profession because we actually care for people.
It is a very tragic error and in the health care profession these things do happen, but it seems that we see them happening more and more often in the past few years.
Healthcare in general needs a complete overhaul. Not enough "qualified" staff and too much workload.
I will pray and pray and pray these children survive and without any ill effects from this! God bless these babies & their parents.
You are right Crystal has an Opinion, what difference does the color make..I'm just glad whomever was white and not black...Had the person been black, and the press mentioned this, the Jessee Jackson, Al Sharpton, King Jr..would be on the MARCH with their pickets signs claiming there was prejudice and would have claimed that had it been a white person nothing would have been said?? Figure that one out..
My prayers and thoughts are with the Quaid's..I cannot believe this tragic event nor can I believe all the inept, careless doctors, nurses, health care people in general!! I have had an occasion whereby the nurse brought me pills and I asked what they were, what they were for and whom there were for?? Her attitude was "pissy" and trying to intimidate me and with great discusts checked. ..Bottom line, they were not pills for me but for another person.!!! loss for words, one might say so...
My prayers to Dennis and his wife and those little babies.
Jennifer Bush,,,,YOU are Satan's spawn, not those babies!
First - I just want to say that my heart feels for the family and those babies. I hope they'll be all right.
But come on TMZ! If you're going to report gossip, at least make it realistic. 10,000 units... in each baby? They'd be dead. They'd be deader than dead. They'd be soo dead, we'd be reading about funerals.
Okay - for anyone who actually reads and believes this gossip, you have to understand that 10,000 units of heparin equals 100 milliliters. 100! For the sake of argument, let's say the nurse didn't use a pre-filled syringe (which, by the way, most hospitals are using now). Most syringes come in sizes of 0.1 ml (meaning the syringe holds one-tenth of a milliliter, or 10 units), 0.3 ml, 0.5ml, 1 ml, 3 ml and 5 ml. The nurse would have had to fill up a syringe 20 times if using a 5 ml syringe for each baby to get that much heparin into them. This is ridiculous! And let's not forget to mention that heparin isn't packaged in a large enough quantity to fill up that big of a syringe, nor should we forget to mention that the size of needle required to inject 5,000 units (or 50 milliliters) of heparin would have to be enormous - and I can't realistically believe that a hospital would be keeping needles and syringes that big on hand for infants.
Hmmmmmmmmm. If I overdose my kids, even accidently, CPS would come and take them away because obviously I'm a BAD mother, and I would be charged with child endangerment (or worse). Probably be convicted, and spend the rest of my life in prison. Why aren't the hospital caregivers held to the same standard as parents? This is child endangerment of the worst kind.
OMG..I met Denise Quid once in person a few years ago. He is such a humble and down to earth person. He literally stretched out his hands to shake mine, i was freakin out omg it's Denise Quaid in person. This story really touched my heart, that dosage is quite extreme and the babies are so young. I hope to God they make it through ok. May God give them all strength through this most difficult time....
Comment #265 is talking about the common "unfractionated" heparin. In fact, these preemies are in all likelyhood given Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH). Common heparin is given IV and has an immediate action, and can be immediately neutralized with protamine sulfate. LMWH is given sub-cutaneously (under the skin), is absorbed slowly over several days, and an overdose will have to be slowly neutralized by protamine sulfate, titrated carefully over several days. It will be a tightrope, but these babies could well survive if managed VERY carefully. The biggest danger is that they will bleed into their brains and cause permanent damage. The babies were given the drug, because preemies will often form abnormal clots that can damage their brains, lungs, livers and extremeties. LMWH is packaged in adult doses. Babies doses have to be diluted from adult doses and it is very easy and far too common for the pharmacy or nurse to make a 10x or 100x dilution error. Lets all hope and pray for the best outcome.
