LOS ANGELES — Dennis and Kimberly Quaid have reached a $750,000 settlement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after their newborn twins were nearly killed last year from an accidental overdose, People reports.
The agreement will now be presented to a Los Angeles judge for approval, the magazine says.
“The settlement is the result of extensive negotiations between the parties and their respective legal representatives, and is intended to avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of litigation,” read papers filed in L.A. Superior Court on Monday, according to the mag.
Two weeks after the couple’s twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were born in November 2007, a Cedars-Sinai staffer gave the babies a massive dose of Heparin. After several days of nerves, the couple’s children managed to recover and are now in good health.
Following the incident, Cedars-Sinai was fined $25,000 by the California Department of Public Health. The hospital was also accused of trying to cover up the facts after reportedly telling the Quaid’s that the twins had been given only half the overdose they actually got. The findings of a state investigation by the California Department of Public Health found that the Quaid children, and one other unnamed baby, received two of the vials.
“We find it outrageous and totally unacceptable that we are learning for the first time… exactly what transpired,” the Quaid’s previously said in a statement. “We were told by upper Cedars-Sinai administration that our children had received only one 10,000 unit dose of heparin when in fact they had received two 10,000 unit doses over an eight-hour period that we now know of.”
“The hospital’s lack of candour has left us with the uneasy feeling that we may never know the whole story,” they said.
The hospital previously apologized to the families and said it has taken steps to provide more training to staff and review all policies and procedures involving high-risk medication.
The 20-page report found that the mishandling of the drug put the babies in “immediate jeopardy,” meaning it had caused, or was likely to cause, “serious injury or death to the patients who received the wrong medication.”
The Quaids have also sued Baxter Healthcare, the makers of heparin, accusing the firm of negligence in packaging different doses of the product in similar vials.
