A heartbroken family is pursuing legal action against a Florida hospital, claiming that a medication error led to the tragic death of their two-year-old son. The lawsuit alleges that a doctor at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital mistakenly altered a prescription, resulting in a fatal overdose of potassium.
On March 3, 2024, De’Markus Page was transferred to the hospital for treatment of dangerously low potassium levels. According to the wrongful death lawsuit, Dominique Page, the child’s mother, asserts that Dr. Jiabi Chen intended to prescribe 1.5 mmol of potassium phosphate. Instead, the prescription read 15 mmol twice daily, following the deletion of a critical decimal point. This error led to an excessively high dosage being administered, compounding the treatments the child was already receiving.
The lawsuit claims that despite a warning in the hospital’s system indicating the potential for an excessive dose, pharmacists and supervising clinicians failed to catch the error. De’Markus received two doses of the medication, with the final dose administered at 20:28 on March 3, 2024. By 21:02, he suffered hyperkalemic cardiac arrest. Medical staff reportedly did not immediately recognize the severity of the situation, and it took more than 20 minutes for them to successfully intubate him.
This delay in response resulted in catastrophic brain and organ damage due to a lack of oxygen. Although De’Markus’ heart eventually restarted, he endured severe seizures and a prolonged hospital stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) while on life support. Tragically, he did not recover and died on March 18, 2024.
“It’s been extremely difficult since the passing of my son because to this day, I still have not known what happened,” Dominique Page told WCJB. “When I asked, it was always a vague, ‘I do not know. I do not know.’ I still have nightmares about what happened.”
The lawsuit, filed on November 6, 2024, seeks at least $50,000 in damages for wrongful death and related claims against UF Health Shands, the University of Florida, and several medical staff members.
In response to the litigation, UF Health declined to comment, citing the need to protect patient privacy and adhere to state and federal HIPAA regulations. “We cannot release information on patients or possible patients and their treatment without consent,” a hospital representative stated.
Jordan Dulcie, the attorney representing the Page family, emphasized the severity of the situation, describing the care as “grossly negligent.” He highlighted that the hospital failed to meet basic standards of medical care. “No parent should have to lose a child like this,” Dulcie stated. “What the family has endured is unimaginable and the worst part is that it was entirely preventable.”
This lawsuit underscores the critical importance of accuracy in medical prescriptions and the potential consequences of negligence in healthcare settings. The family is seeking justice for the loss of their beloved child while raising awareness about the need for improved safety measures in hospitals.
