Tonight on 60 Minutes, Dennis and Kimberly Quaid speak out about their twins mistakenly overdosed at a Los Angeles hospital in November 2007.
The actor and his wife share their story for the first time on television to draw attention to hospital mistakes that kill as many as 100,000 Americans a year, according to CBSNews.com.
Quaid says that more people die from hospital mistakes than aids and traffic accidents, yet it doesn't get the same attention. His goal is to bring these medical mistakes to the forefront.
The Quaids, who welcomed their twins, Boone and Zoe, on November 8, 2007,brought their babies to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center later that month because they were suffering from a staph infection. While hospitalized, the babies were accidentally administered 1,000 times the necessary dose of a blood thinning medication (Heparin) used to flush out IV lines.
"We all have this inherent thing that we trust doctors and nurses, that they know what they're doing," Dennis tells '60 Minutes,' "This mistake occurred right under our noses … the nurse didn't bother to look at the dosage on the bottle. It was avoidable, completely avoidable."
This is so true, especially when it comes to our children. If our children are hurt or sick we have to trust our doctors, nurses and hospitals to care for them.
Of course doctors and nurses are human, and unfortunately accidents can happen…but when it comes to life and death situations our hospitals need to be diligent in doing everything possible to NOT let mistakes happen!
You can read the Quaid's story at CBSNews.com from March 2008; and tune in tonight, August 24, 2008, to '60 Minutes' at 7:00 p.m. EST and watch the Quaid's interview.