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Quaid relives twins' nightmare
15/05/2008 16:18 - (SA)
Washington - Actor Dennis Quaid told the US Congress on Wednesday of a harrowing, near-fatal drug mix-up in which his newborn twins were administered 1 000 times the normal dose of a blood thinner.
The actor said his family's brush with tragedy underscores the need to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable through lawsuits, a remedy that is becoming increasingly problematic for injured consumers.
Some 7 000 Americans die every year from medication errors.
At issue before the House Reform and Government Oversight Committee is a move by regulators at the Food and Drug Administration to step into lawsuits on the side of defendant drug companies.
In court, the drug companies argue that federal regulation should pre-empt the filing of lawsuits under state law, a matter that will come before the Supreme Court later this year in a case from the state of Vermont.
The Quaid family is suing drug maker Baxter Healthcare Corp, which is seeking dismissal of the lawsuit on federal pre-emption grounds that the FDA approved the labelling.
Life-altering story
Quaid told the committee his family's life-altering story began in November 2007 when twins Thomas and Zoe, at the time 12 days old, developed a staph infection and had to be hospitalised.
The children were mistakenly administered the wrong version of the drug heparin, due to two concentrations of the drug being bottled with similar labels and size.
When rotated slightly as they often are when stored, the light blue 10-unit bottle and the 10 000-unit dark blue bottle are virtually indistinguishable, Quaid told the panel.
The actor asked whether consumers' rights to sue under state law should be blocked just because the FDA approves the drug and its labelling and packaging.
The actor said that under the approach favoured by business and the federal government, the FDA handed the drug maker "a get-out-of-jail-free card" when the regulatory agency allowed heparin onto the market.
The Quaids' children recovered.
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South Africa
