Medication mistakes

Re “Actor files suit in drug mishap,” Dec. 5

There’s a relatively inexpensive way for drug companies to avoid dosage snafus such as the one cited in the lawsuit by Dennis and Kimberly Quaid.

When three Indiana babies died of heparin overdoses, Baxter Healthcare Corp., the manufacturer, should have marshaled its army of field representatives to visit every doctor, pharmacy and hospital and relabel every vial of heparin with color-coded overlays that clearly spelled out the dosage within. An action such as this would have reduced the possibility of error and additionally indicated that Baxter could be trusted to act quickly to reduce future dosage mix-ups.

Sheldon J. Baer

Woodland Hills

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I applaud the efforts of the Quaids to raise public awareness of a drug manufacturer’s responsibility for safe products. As a former hospital pharmacy director, not a week went by that I didn’t stop and give thanks that none of our patients were seriously injured from a medication-related incident. Every day, pharmacy and nursing professionals are handling thousands of different drug products. It’s unfortunate that events like this may be needed to finally convince drug manufacturers that they have a responsibility not only to produce a quality product but to design and package it in a manner that assures that the right drug reaches the right patient. Patients visit a hospital for medical help; the last thing they want is to be harmed from a preventable medication error.

James Yamauchi

Calabasas

The writer is a pharmacist.