Dennis Quaid Speaking Out to Stop Medical Mistakes
April 15 2010, Published 5:38 a.m. ET
His case may have been settled for $500,000 with Cedars' Sinai Medical Center, but it's only the beginning for Dennis Quaid. The actor is now setting out to tell his twins' near death story in hopes of preventing it from happening to someone else.
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"There were 41 hours where their lives were in the balance," Dennis told the Associated Press.
Dennis' twins Thomas and Zoe Quaid accidentally received an overdose of heparin, a blood thinner, while they were at the L.A. hospital in 2007.
For him and his wife, Kimberly Buffington, he said it was the most frightening day of their lives and left them in, "shock, anger and confusion."
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But Dennis' children aren't the only ones who have experienced this life-threatening problem.
"This is a preventable error," he said and plans to raise awareness even to health care leaders.
Dennis wants the health care industry to operate more like the airline industry. He said they are "kept on its toes" by the National Transportation Safety Board, which he said has helped made flying safer than walking.
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In an attempt to raise awareness, Dennis has produced and narrated a documentary titled, Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm, which will air on the Discovery Channel April 24.
"If you hit them in the heart, it sets the hands to work," he explained.
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As for the current health of his twins, two and a-half years later, Dennis said they have "apparently no ill effects."
"We were really lucky to have a happy ending."