Sometimes it's hard to feel sympathy for the rich when they have tragedies. After all, when the poodle dies, they just hop on a plane to Hawaii for a couple of weeks to recover. It's a lot easier to be rich. However, when something this tragic happens it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are. It hurts the same. I truly hope there's no permanent damage. And maybe this will bring to light problems with our health care system that can be addressed and hopefully fixed.
I wish the family all the best.

Have to agree with some, this unfortunate event is nothing more than a a person not doing their job. To suggest it represents greed on the part of the Hospital, Insurance companies or Pharmaceutical industry is a stretch.

Be careful what you wish for. I am a physician in a small private Western Hospital. I have had the opportunity to work in the NHS (U.K.) for a year, a large V.A. Hospital and currently with the IHS (Indian Health Service).

I could write pages of nightmare scenarios in regards to Government Health Care from personal experience. A small sample. The NHS worked because in the Apartment I lived in across from the Hospital, every other resident was a Pakistani or Indian physician (on Visa) doing all the work. The VA system works because the hospitals are run by training physicians. The IHS works because Family Practice physicians are allowed to perform surgery (ie Laparoscopic gallbladders).
Know the alternative before you ask for it for yourself.

ka-ching!

i spend more than my share of time in hospitals and doctor examination rooms. i always ask 'what's that?' 'what are you doing?' 'what are my alternatives?' 'did you wash your hands' 'why aren't you wearing gloves' and on and on and on. dr.'s and nurse's are not gods. they are human beings just like the rest of us and really are sloppy sometimes. once they hauled me away on a gurney, kicking and screaming, to perform an procedure they had already performed the day before.

also, many hospital employees these days are ESL. so when you talk to them and they nod like they're understanding you what they're really hearing is "blah blah blah will you make sure blah blah blah because the doctor told me blah blah blah.

whenever you enter the hospital, have an assertive advocate with you and inform the doctor and staff "we ask lots of questions and want lots of answers".

bless those poor babies.

Hospitals are places you enter with the assumption of terminal risk. Besides the MRSBs there are all those millions of silly little deadly drug mistakes....

I hope the Quaids find the right way (probably alternative to this hospital) of removing the toxicity from their babies. Wishing them all a speedy recovery.

Celebrities caught in a healthcare nightmare, somewhat of their own contrivance. Nature is telling you something if your own 'junk' is unsuitable to the point it renders you unable to make that spawning run upstream yourself. Gamble with your own life at your own risk. Leave the Frankenstein-like reaching for the next generation of cloning, and/or fielding combatants for the upcoming 'mech-wars'.

...my daughter-in-law is an RN in a mid-sized hospital in the Southeast of the US......she is rethinking her career choice as the patient load increases and the number of health professionals are held to a minimum so the corporate entity that owns the hospital can report a profit to the board.....

....this is a tragedy for Mr. Quaid and his wife....all prayers are with them at this time for a speedy recovery with no lasting effects....if long-term effects are in the future of these children then Mr.Quaid and his wife should SUE this place out of existence and the drug company as well.......I saw the picture of the two vials of Heparin in question and they are too similar for what they contain.....one at 10 and the other at 1000X that....this is UNFORGIVABLE.....

Can you say lawsuit? I was taught in the Air Force that you check three separate times in the process of distributing medication to the patient. If in doubt do not administer the requested medicine. It seems that there have been a number of similar cases at this same hospital in recent history. Our prayers go out to Dennis Quaid and his wife and children and to the rest of his family,

Heartfelt prayers go out to Dennis and his family. We will all hope for their speedy recovery.

Hospitals have to turn a profit and productivity has to go up. Nurses have to work harder until they make mistakes.

Drug companies have to make money.
I am sure the makers of Heparin sold the hospital on dosing health newborns.

When will the neocons admit for profit medicine does not work.

this shouldn't happen to anybody. sad that it has to happen to a famous person before anything is done. how many others suffered this fate under the radar? my heart goes out to dennis and his wife. he is good people.

this is terrible. i do hope they recover. that was a massive overdose - massive.

what a terrible terrible thing to happen.

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So much for supposedly the best health care system in the world.

I hope everything turns out alright for the babies. Dennis and his wife must be devastated. What a tragedy. You think the babies are safe in a hospital, and by all rights, they should be. That was a massive overdose.

That's what happens when it's only about profit and not about care. When was the last time you dealt with a doctor that didn't treat you like a case file? If we had universal health care the odds of this happening would be much lower.