According to an Associated Press story, the families of two newborns who died after they were inadvertently given massive doses of heparin have sued an Indianapolis hospital and the Illinois-based company that makes the blood thinner.

The suit filed recently in Marion Superior Court against Methodist Hospital and Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter Healthcare Corp. doesn’t specify damages.

The suit was filed by an defective drug attorney for the parents of two of the three newborns who died in September 2006 following injections of heparin 1,000 times greater than the recommended dose for infants. Also suing are the parents of two infants who were overdosed but survived.

The error occurred in part because of a mix up over labeling.

A Baxter spokeswoman said the deaths were tragic but preventable, and it is vital that clinicians always read the name and dose of a drug before giving it to a patient. Baxter changed the labeling on its heparin vials in October 2007.

A spokesman for Clarian Health Partners, of which Methodist is part, said the company did not have all the details of the litigation and had no comment.

Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife sued Baxter last year after their newborn twins got massive doses of the blood thinner at a hospital.

These families aren’t the only ones battling drug companies over wrongful deaths due to defective drugs or defective labeling. It is advisable to locate an experienced defective drug attorney in case legal advice is necessary for a heparin lawsuit or settlement .

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Defective Drugs, Heparin, Overdose, Recall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.