Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly Buffington decided to file a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company Baxter, a manufacturer of heparin. In November, Quaid’s newly born twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were the victims of a medical error at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The twins, born via a gestational carrier on November 8, were hospitalized November 20, after accidentally being given an overdose of Heparin on November 18. Heparin is an anti-coagulant used to flush out IV lines and prevent blood clots. The normal dosage for babies is 10 units but the twins were given 10,000 units.

Soon after receiving the overdose, the three affected infants began to bleed spontaneously, and the error was detected. Appropriate intensive care measures were immediately taken, and the babies were treated to reverse the effects of heparin.

According to the lawsuit filed by Dennis Quaid in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, Baxter Healthcare Corp. failed to properly label vials of its product - the 10 units-per-millilitre vial of Heparin looks almost identical to the 10,000 units-per-millilitre vial.

“Since a medical error in administration could lead to a dangerous or fatal result, the vials should have been in completely distinguishable size and shape,” the lawsuit states.

"On a negligence scale of one to 10, Baxter Corporation gets a 10," the Quaids' lawyer, Susan E. Loggans, said for People.com. "They knew medication errors due to product labeling resulted in death but failed to recall the drug.” The movie star and his wife are seeking $50,000 in damages.

Cedars Sinai chief medical officer Dr. Michael Langberg apologized at the time for what it called preventable human error.

"This was a preventable error, involving a failure to follow our standard policies and procedures, and there is no excuse for that to occur at Cedars-Sinai. Although it appears at this point that there was no harm to any patient, we take this situation very seriously."

According to media reports, Loggans said Quaid had not yet decided whether to sue Cedars-Sinai. "Cedars-Sinai has already apologized and we are waiting to see what they do to respond," Loggans said.

According to a press release posted on its website on December 3, Baxter Healthcare Corp. announced it has introduced a new drug safety initiative at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Midyear Clinical Meeting

“Beginning with new, enhanced drug labeling launched in October 2007, Baxter will be launching several new products and technologies in the coming years designed to help reduce the risk of medication errors. As one of the top five high alert medications as designated by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, Heparin Sodium Injection, a commonly used anticoagulant, is the first medication offered with the new enhanced label. The label features an increase of 20 percent font size, a unique color combination, and a large red cautionary tear-off label,” the statement reads.