A heartbroken mother is suing a Florida hospital, alleging a doctor negligently deleted a decimal point in her two-year-old son’s prescription – a mistake that eventually led to his death.
De’Markus Page “tragically overdosed with potassium” on March 3, 2024, which caused him to suffer a massive brain injury and resulted in “a horrific and protracted hospital course” on a ventilator before finally being taken off life support, according to the wrongful death lawsuit viewed by The Independent.
In the lawsuit filed against UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital on November 6, Dominique Page alleges the medical staff “fumbled” her son’s treatment after he had been transferred to the teaching hospital for dangerously low potassium levels.
She claimed Dr. Jiabi Chen intended to prescribe 1.5 mmol of potassium phosphate. But instead, the doctor entered 15 mmol twice daily, “deleting a critical decimal point” and ordering an “exceedingly high” dosage on top of other potassium treatments the child was already receiving, according to the lawsuit.
The filing claims pharmacists and supervising clinicians failed to catch the error, even though the hospital’s system issued a “Red Flag” warning about the excessive dose.
De’Markus received two doses, the last at 8:28 p.m. on March 3, 2024. By 9:02 p.m., the toddler went into hyperkalemic cardiac arrest.
The suit alleges medical staff did not immediately recognize the cardiac arrest and then took more than 20 minutes to successfully intubate him. The extended lack of oxygen caused “catastrophic” brain and organ damage, according to the filing.
De’Markus’ heart eventually restarted, but the lawsuit states he endured seizures and “a horrific and protracted hospital course” in the ICU while on life support.
He never recovered 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,” 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.”
Page is suing UF Health Shands, the University of Florida, and several medical staff members for at least $50,000 in damages for wrongful death and related claims.
UF Health declined to comment on the litigation, according to WCJB, stating: “UF Health is committed to protecting the privacy of all patients and their families and follows all state and federal HIPAA regulations. We cannot release information on patients or possible patients and their treatment without consent.”
Page’s attorney, Jordan Dulcie, called the care “grossly negligent,” saying the hospital “failed the basic standards of medical care,” the outlet reported.
“No parent should have to lose a child like this,” Dulcie said. “What the family has endured is unimaginable and the worst part is that it was entirely preventable.”
