BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles placed three children, including Dennis Quaid's newborn twins, in danger by giving them overdoses of a blood thinner, California regulators said Wednesday.

    The California Department of Public Health said the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center gave the pediatric patients 1,000 times the intended dosage of heparin on Nov. 18.

    State regulators said the "violations caused, or were likely to cause, serious injury or death to the patients who received the wrong medication," and they faulted the hospital for its "deficient practices" around administrating the drug.

    The 20-page report does not identify the patients, but the Quaid family's representatives previously confirmed the newborns’ involvement. All three children recovered, but two needed a drug that reverses the effects of heparin.

    The regulators’report found the hospital did not adequately educate staff about safe use of heparin, which it described as a "high alert, high risk" blood thinner, and that nurses sometimes failed to adequately read labels on vials of the drug.

    Cedars-Sinai's chief medical officer, Michael Langberg, said in a statement that the state's review echoed the hospital's own findings about the error and that the facility had cooperated fully with the investigation.

    "While this is a rare event, we are pleased that the (health department) shares our view that it is an important opportunity for the entire institution to explore any and all ways we can further improve medication safety," Langberg said.

    The hospital has apologized to the patients’ families and said it made changes to prevent a recurrence, including providing more training and requiring four pharmacy workers to verify a high-alert medication before putting it in a patient care unit.

(Agencies)