A Florida mother is suing University of Florida Health Shands Hospital after her 2-year-old son, De’Markus Page, died from what she claims was a preventable overdose caused by a doctor’s decimal point error.
According to the lawsuit filed in Alachua County Circuit Court, De’Markus died on March 18, 2024, two weeks after being placed on life support following a potassium overdose that led to a massive heart attack and severe brain injury.
The boy was first admitted to AdventHealth Ocala Hospital on March 1 with low potassium levels and later transferred to Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville for specialized care. There, staff found he weighed just 21 pounds and continued to show signs of low potassium.
On March 2, pediatrician Dr. Jiabi Chen allegedly prescribed De’Markus 10 times his previous dosage by accidentally deleting a decimal point — ordering 15 mmol of potassium twice daily instead of 1.5 mmol, the filing states.
The toddler was already receiving potassium intravenously and through Pedialyte, compounding the risk. Despite an alert in the hospital’s pharmacy system warning of the excessive dose, no staff or pharmacists caught the error, the lawsuit alleges.
De’Markus received two doses of the excessive medication, with the final one given at 8:28 p.m. on March 3. Within half an hour, he went into cardiac arrest. Staff reportedly made “two to three botched attempts” to intubate him, delaying oxygen for at least 20 minutes and causing catastrophic brain damage.
After two weeks in intensive care, suffering seizures and other complications, De’Markus was removed from life support.
His mother, Dominique Page, is suing for at least $50,000 in damages, claiming negligence, wrongful death, and emotional suffering.
Family attorney Jordan Dulcie called the hospital’s conduct “grossly negligent,” saying, “No parent should have to lose a child like this. It was entirely preventable.”
UF Health declined to comment on the case, citing patient privacy laws. Dr. Chen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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