Oct 2, 2008 8:08 pm US/Pacific
Hospitals Failed To Take Recalled Drug Off Shelves
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
A state agency says nearly 100 pharmacists and the hospitals they work for face fines for failing to remove a blood thinner from their shelves after a federal recall last winter.
The state Board of Pharmacy says the recalled drug heparin was found 94 times in inspections of all 533 hospitals in California, and at least 16 hospitals administered the drug to patients.. Fines range from $2,500 to $5,000.
Regulators have not released the full list of hospitals involved. However, documents obtained by the Daily Journal show newborns were allegedly given heparin at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Central California in Madera. Both hospitals are appealing the charges.
Heparin, which is often used in premature children to prevent blood clots, has come under scrutiny because of accidental life-threatening overdoses given to babies, including actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins at a Los Angeles hospital last November. Fourteen other babies received accidental heparin overdoses in July at a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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