Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife agreed to a $750,000 settlement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles over the horrific medical error that almost killed his newborn twins last November.

"The settlement is the result of extensive negotiations between the parties and their respective legal representatives, and is intended to avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of litigation," papers filed in L.A. Superior Court on Monday stated. The agreement must still be approved by a Los Angeles judge.

In November 2007, only 12 days after they were born, Quaid's babies, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace had to be hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center because they developed a staph infection.

They were mistakenly administrated a massive 10,000 units of Heparin, a blood thinner used to flush out IV lines, two separate times. Heparin is a common injectable anticoagulant derived from mucosal tissues of slaughtered meat animals such as porcine intestine or bovine lung. Just 1 unit of Heparin is required to keep 1 mL of cat blood fluid for 24 hours at 0°C.

The twins were supposed to be given just 10 units. Both the 10-unit pediatric dose and the 10,000-unit adult concentration have similar labels and bottles and are hard to tell apart (both are colored in shades of blue and have small writing.)

Fortunately, the error was discovered soon and the babies were given blood clotting drugs to counteract the Heparin. The Quaids weren't notified that their twins were in grave condition until the next day. The twins survived with no permanent damage, although long-term effects are yet unknown. Hospital officials have cited at least three safety lapses that led to the overdoses.

Over a year prior to the incident, the exact same error killed three other babies in an Indian hospital but the drugs' manufacturer, Baxter Healthcare Corp, never changed the packaging of Heparin. The company only sent a warning to hospitals regarding the potential for mistakes. Quaid also sued Baxter for their gross error in failing to change the packaging.

Earlier this year, Quaid and his wife Kimberley were on "60 minutes" to talk about the ordeal they went through almost losing their babies. The twins were born by a surrogate using his sperm and his wife’s eggs after Kimberly suffered five miscarriages. The actor seemed passionate and committed to ensuring that future medical errors are prevented.

He has since founded The Quaid Foundation, with a mission to bring awareness to preventable medical errors and also testified in front of Congress this Spring to urge them not to support a measure by the drug companies that would make them immune from lawsuits.