Quaid to Cedars-Sinai: Do the right thing

Time's running out if Cedars-Sinai Medical Center wants to avoid a lawsuit stemming from the massive overdose of a blood thinner that nearly killed Dennis Quaid's newborn twins last year. The actor has urged the hospital to take the lead in making hospitals safer for patients, but sees no action yet.

"We haven't brought any kind of suit against Cedars ...  because we  want them to do the right thing. We're still waiting, although time  is running short, for us," Quaid said at an annual meeting of the  Assn. of Health Care Journalists, which is meeting in Arlington, Va.

Quaid called the reported 100,000 deaths each year from medical errors a "silent tragedy" and is determined that his own family's medical crisis benefit other patients.  Though the Quaid twins received  1,000 times the intended dose of heparin, the survived.

Full story from Rong-Gong Lin.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: The Quaid Foundation