Dad Says Hospital Mistake Has His Premature Son On Life Support

FONTANA (CBSLA.com) — Parents in Fontana say a mistake made by a hospital has put their premature baby on life support.

Jaden Williams, barely 6-weeks-old, is in critical condition at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Fontana.

"He's still fighting, still fighting. He's a trouper, that kid," said the boy's father.

A distraught Napolean Williams spoke to CBS2's Tom Wait about his son's ordeal.

"At one point they wanted to say he was kind of brain dead," said the father, "But then they retracted [that]. You can't be kind of brain dead. Either you are or you aren't and at this point and time, he's not."

Jaden was born five weeks prematurely. He was only four pounds, six ounces at birth.

He was kept in the hospital for several weeks and everything was fine when he was finally able to go home, said Williams.

Then, after about two weeks, his behavior suddenly changed.

"He started crying every time she put him down, he woke up at 3 am. but wouldn't take his bottle," said his father.

Williams and his fiance took the baby to the Fontana campus of Kaiser where Jaden was ultimately diagnosed with meningitis.

He was supposed to get 28 milligrams of Acyclovir -- a drug used to fight meningitis -- but was accidentally given 280 milligrams in one dose.

Williams wonders if Jaden is on life support because of the illness or become of the overdose.

Wait said Kaiser declined an on-camera interview but released the following statement, "Due to an individual pharmacist error, the child was given more of the medication than he should have received. This dosage could potentially have adverse effects on [the] kidney or liver, but this has not occurred. The maximum pharmaceutical recommendation is 160 milligrams in 24 hours, and he received 280 milligrams, an additional 112 milligrams."

The boy's prognosis is unclear. His father said it might be several more days, or weeks --  or even longer -- to learn his fate.