Heparin, a blood thinner produced by Baxter Healthcare and others, has been the subject of a number of high-profile drug recalls. First, questions were raised about the labeling of the drug after the high-profile medical error in which Dennis Quaid’s twelve-day-old twins were administered a dose from an adult strength vial. The labeling of the two vials were nearly identical, distinguished by a shade of color difference which had encouraged many similar medical mistakes in the past. This year, seventeen babies were all given an overdose of heparin due to a mixing error at the hospital’s pharmacy, leading to the death of two children.
Then later in 2007 and in 2008 heparin vials were recalled because they were contaminated with a dangerous bacteria or other impurities.
Now, regulators say that mistakes with heparin and similar blood thinners may have been made nearly 60,000 times in the last five years and led to at least 28 deaths in the last decade. The regulatory group, The Joint Commission, a non-profit organization devoted to maintaining the highest possible standards of health care in the United States, also said that about 1700 of the errors led to patient harm and it knew there were many more deaths about which it had not been informed, and that the uncounted deaths were part of the reason for the alert.
The group said it plans to conduct surprise visits to make sure that hospitals are adopting strict new guidelines to prevent the kinds of errors that have led to serious injuries and wrongful deaths in recent years.
If you have suffered as a result of the lax manner in which your doctor or hospital handled this dangerous class of drugs, contact an experienced medical malpractice lawyer at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. in Chicago, Illinois today for a free initial consultation.
