State Fines California Hospitals

State regulators have fined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California $25,000 in connection with a series of safety lapses in which incorrect doses of a popular blood thinner were given to children -- including the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid and his wife, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Cedars was one of 11 California hospitals assessed penalties because of license violations that caused, or were likely to cause, serious injury or death, Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director of the state Department of Public Health's Center for Healthcare Quality, told the paper.

"The hospitals take this extremely seriously," said Billingsley, adding that all hospitals fined had taken corrective action.

The Quaids' babies, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were twice given 1,000 times the intended dosage of heparin on Nov. 18 while being treated at Cedars-Sinai, one of the nation's most prestigious hospitals. Heparin is a widely used blood-thinning drug.

The babies were then given the drug protamine sulfate to reverse the effects of heparin and restore normal blood-clotting function, and they appear to have recovered fully, the Times said.

Another child being treated at the facility also was given the wrong dose of the medication, often used as a flush to prevent blood clots around intravenous catheter sites. Heparin is among the most frequently used -- and misused -- drugs in the nation, according to U.S. Pharmacopeia, which operates a program reporting medication errors and adverse drug reactions.

"Our kids could have been dying, and we wouldn't have been able to come down to the hospital to say goodbye," Quaid told the Times in January.

The Quaids filed suit against a leading blood-thinner manufacturer in December, saying the labeling and design of the product led to a massive overdose of their newborn twins.