DENNIS QUAID - QUAID APPLAUDS HOSPITAL WHERE HIS KIDS ALMOST DIED

QUAID APPLAUDS HOSPITAL WHERE HIS KIDS ALMOST DIED

DENNIS QUAID has publicly applauded Cedars-Sinai Medical Center staff in Los Angeles for addressing problems that almost cost his baby twins their lives.
The actor's 12-day-old babies were given near-lethal doses of a blood thinner when a tired nurse picked up the wrong bottles of Heparin in 2007.
Quaid and his wife Kimberly have since launched a campaign for better bottle-labelling systems to prevent hospital tragedies across America, and The Rookie star is impressed with the measures Cedars-Sinai bosses have gone to to make sure there will never be a repeat of the nightmare he and his wife went through.
As part of a medical special on TV show Oprah, which aired in America on Tuesday (10Mar09), Quaid returned to the hospital and met Chief Nursing Officer Linda Burnes Bolton, who was called in the night of the medical emergency that almost claimed the lives of the actor's kids.
She showed the actor all the adjustments that have been made at the hospital as a result of the incident, which she explained had served as "a catalyst to find ways to prevent those errors".
Quaid has since learned the hospital's executives have spent $100 million (£71.4 million) installing a high-tech computer barcode system that helps to eliminate human error.
He says, "I'd really like to applaud Cedars for what they've done since then; they really stepped up to the plate.
"They spent a substantial amount of money to alleviate this problem. I think they really are up at the top now as far as raising the standard of care."
The actor and his wife Kimberley were awarded $750,000 (£535,700) in damages in December (08), after staff at Cedars-Sinai were held responsible for administering a near-fatal amount of Heparin to the babies, leaving them fighting for their lives.
California state regulators also fined hospital bosses.