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Drug errors found to affect 1 in 15 children

Posted by: David Patton
April 09, 2008
Topic: Medical errors

According to Lindsey Tanner

Associated Press

CHICAGO - Medicine mix-ups, accidental overdoses, and bad drug reactions harm roughly one out of 15 hospitalized children, such as the accidental drug overdose of actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins in November. Quaid's twins got accidental life-threatening heparin overdoses in a Los Angeles hospital shortly after they were born in November. The babies have recovered. Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, have formed a foundation to prevent medical errors.

Experiencing harm as a result of your health care is much more common than people believe. Researchers found a rate of 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children

The researchers said their findings highlight the need for "aggressive, evidence-based prevention strategies to decrease the substantial risk for medication-related harm" to hospitalized children. More than half the problems the study found were related to those powerful painkillers, including overdoses and allergic reactions.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/a-hollywood-family-takes-on-medical-mistakes/



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