I can’t remember who asked about both babies needing to go back into hospital in the first place but I would say maybe it was a case of one of the twins showing problems then they would take both in just in case. As far as I know anyway.
Hope the wee angels are ok.

You don’t have to be a registered nurse to give medicine last I checked in CA; they have all kinds of technicians in hospitals that can do so.

In a few articles about this story, they have said a technician or an EMT administered the medication. I’m confused. Why would anyone but a nurse be giving the medication?

i feel for the nurses on this as well as the famillies. im sure they never meant for anything like this to happen and are probably feeling downright awful. i hope that measures are put in place so that this doesn’t happen again.

To Avalulu, no, it would look the same. It would be the percentage of active ingredient. 10 u per ml, or 10,000 u per ml. The nurse administered a more potent dose, rather than a dose of greater volume (I assume). Heparin has a temporary effect, and protamine sulfate is an antidote. Any permanent injury would be caused by bleeding.

I am a nurse in the NICU. I just wanted to give an FYI to the questions and curiosity. The packaging on the medication is changed quite often so that people do stay alert to the various doses. In the NICU that I work at we have changed the locations for all the doses so that in administration or an emergency the wrong dosage is not grabbed/given. We have several check points before the dose is even in the baby. The nurse is required to check all meds with another nurse and do the calculation again before administration. This follows the 5 rights of medication administration. Yes, mistakes are made, but with various check points in place this shouldn’t happen. This story does seem a bit fishy, and the only thing that I can surmise is the suremed where the med was placed was loaded incorrectly and then several nurses at the same time pulled the med. When the first dose/s were given incorrectly, other nurses were probably not aware of it or had already given the med.
We don’t live in a perfect world and yes, nurses/doctors/pharmacists/techs do make mistakes but that is all the more reason to go to nursing school and help decrease the nursing deficit.

This is so horrible, and I imagine that there have to be some short- or long-term effects. The babies are so tiny, how could there not be? What I don’t understand, is how you mistake 10,000 units for 10? Even if the labels are identical, wouldn’t 10,000 units simply look like much more volume to administer? I’m not a health practitioner, so I haven’t got a clue.

Oh, my God, this horrible case reminds me of a recent case in my country. In one czech hospital a male nurse killed 8 people and tried to kill 7 by overdose of Heparin. The man has been arrested and the trial is being prepared. I think that Cedars Sinai should very carefully investigate if this isn’t done on purpose.

My prayers are with the family for a speedy recovery and a clean bill of health. I cannot imagine how badly I’m sure the nurses involved feel. I have ‘good’ memories of being sick when I was younger thanks to my nurses.

As a preemie, I was in and out of the hospital a few times so its not too shocking to me that they are back in. Jaundice, then bronchitis, then some sort of virus. Granted I was much tinier than these two, but still with very young babies its usually better to monitor them so that they have an easier recovery.

I agree that they should not be talking money in regards to the article but then they should have kept quiet all together. I just think that it seems a little off that they first thing they do is offer to pay for the funeral and counseling. Like they should be given a pat on the back for doing something good.