Dennis Quaid Calls for Barcode Medicine System, or He'll Sue
By
WENN.com
|
Saturday, March 29, 2008
HOLLYWOOD - Dennis Quaid has threatened to sue staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles if they refuse to introduce a bar-code system to prevent medical mishaps.
The actor's twin babies had to fight for their lives there last year when they were mistakenly given a near-fatal overdose of blood thinner Heparin, and Quaid insists the mishap could have been avoided if there was a better system of marking medicines.
California regulators have already fined hospital bosses $25,000 after concluding the failure of staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to follow their own procedures resulted in incorrect doses of the drug being administered to Quaid's infants and other children.
And the actor has revealed he may also take legal action if hospital chiefs don't act to improve patient safety.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Association of Healthcare Journalists on Thursday, Quaid said, "We want them to do the right thing. We're still waiting, although time is running short for us."
The Vantage Point star is championing the implementation of a barcode system that scans all medication before it is administered to patients--to avoid mistakes like the one that almost cost his babies their lives.
This system has been recommended by America's top medical experts.
He adds, "They have a barcode system in every checkout stand of every supermarket in the country, so how could it be so complicated?"
COPYRIGHT 2008 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
Photo(s) by Dave Edwards- © 2006- DailyCeleb.com- All Rights Reserved
Bookmark this news story with:
News Archive