Florida boy died of potassium overdose after getting 10x his prescription: suit

A 2-year-old boy died in a Florida hospital after a doctor negligently deleted a decimal point in his prescription, resulting in the underweight toddler receiving 10 times the dosage of medicine he should have, a lawsuit alleges.

De’Markus Page “tragically overdosed with potassium” on March 3, 2024, causing him to suffer a massive brain injury and forcing him to spend the next two weeks enduring “a horrific and protracted hospital course” on a ventilator before finally being taken off of life support, according to a lawsuit filed by his mother last week.

Mom Dominique Page is suing University of Florida Health and its Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, as well as the medical staff she claims “fumbled” his treatment, including taking 20 minutes to intubate him after he went into cardiac arrest, the Alachua County Circuit Court lawsuit alleges.

De’Markus — who “was suspected of having some level of autism” and was a picky eater — first landed in AdventHealth Ocala Hospital on March 1, 2024 with a virus and dangerously low levels of potassium, Law & Crime first reported, citing the suit.

The lawyer said he hopes to bring the case to trial to prevent another family from having to go through what Dominique went through.

The hospital declined to comment on the case but said: “UF Health is committed to protecting the privacy of all patients and their families and follows all state and federal HIPAA regulations.

We are unable to disclose details regarding patients or potential patients and their care without authorization.

Chen did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.