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Police investigate near-deaths at Quebec hospital

Last Updated: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | 9:49 PM ET

CBC News

Quebec provincial police are investigating how two patients nearly bled to death during surgery after receiving an anticoagulant drug at a hospital in Ste-Eustache, Que.

Investigators want to know why both patients received potentially lethal doses of the drug heparin, which prevents blood clotting.

Martine Isabelle, a spokeswoman for Quebec provincial police, confirmed the investigation is underway, saying only that police are trying to determine the circumstances of the two incidents.

One incident happened on Feb. 5, the second on Feb. 6.

In both cases, doctors intervened and the patients recovered, according to the television news station TVA.

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc told TVA that investigators will try to determine whether the incidents were deliberate or the result of human error.

Police have not said which hospital they are investigating in Ste-Eustache, a northwestern suburb of Montreal.

With files from the Canadian Press

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