Quaids Want Illinois Supreme Court to Hear Heparin Case

Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid and his wife have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to order a state court to hear their lawsuit blaming confusing labeling on the blood-thinning drug Heparin for causing a medical mishap that nearly killed the couple’s infant twins.

The Quaids accuse Baxter Healthcare Corp., the maker of Heparin, of negligence for packaging the full-strength form of Heparin similarly to a diluted form of the drug, called Hep-Lock, which is designed for use in pediatric patients.

Heparin and Hep-Lock are both anticoagulants commonly used to prevent clogging blockages in intravenous lines. In November 2007, a nurse at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles mistakenly administered full-strength Heparin to the Quaid twins, causing near fatal internal bleeding to occur. It was later learned that by using Heparin instead of Hep-Lock, the nurse had administered doses that were 1,000 times greater than the recommended dose.

The hospital agreed to pay the Quaids $750,000 in damages after admitting mistakes were made.

The Quaids became outspoken critics of Heparin’s packaging, which they contend was too similar to that of Hep-Lock and led to the confusion between which drug was being administered. The couple testified before Congress, saying Baxter should have recalled Heparin before the accident and changed the drug’s labeling to make it easier to distinguish the full-strength version from diluted Hep-Lock.

State Suit Dismissed

In June, an Illinois appeals court dismissed the Quaids’ lawsuit and ruled that California, where the accident occurred, was a better legal venue for the case. The Quaids contend Illinois law favors a plaintiff’s choice of venue and that Illinois-based Baxter should go on trial in that state, according to the National Law Journal.

“If a plaintiff doesn’t have the right to go to a defendant’s home state and face what would normally be considered a hostile jury because the plaintiff knows what’s best for its own case, then you’ll be virtually blocking any innocent person from doing what is best for them and allowing the defendant to control where any case is filed,” said the Quaids’ attorney, Susan Loggans.

Baxter’s attorneys say the appeals court ruling dismissing the Illinois suit was proper, since most of the evidence and potential witnesses in the case are in California. The state Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Quaids’ request in the coming months.

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