Hospital error blamed for more infant overdoses

July 11, 2008, 5:15PM
Hospital error blamed for more infant overdoses


By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The case of 14 babies who received accidental overdoses while in intensive care has raised new questions about how a common blood-thinning medication could be given to infants repeatedly in the wrong dosage.

Unlike a previous case involving twins of actor Dennis Quaid, the Texas newborns got the overdose because of an error at the hospital pharmacy, not a labeling problem.

Quaid sued one of heparin's manufacturers last year after his children's overdose was traced to a hospital pharmacy worker who grabbed vials of the wrong dosage because the labels looked almost identical if turned a certain way.

In Corpus Christi, pharmacy workers at Christus Spohn Hospital South made what the hospital called a "mixing error." The two workers went on voluntary leave.

The heparin, which was 100 times stronger than recommended, was given to 14 infants in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit on July 4.
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