Thomas Boone Quaid is the son of actor Dennis Quaid and Kimberly Buffington, and the twin brother of Zoe Grace Quaid. He was born on November 8, 2007, which makes him 18 as of early November 2026. He is best known for something that happened when he was less than two weeks old: a hospital error at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that gave him a blood thinner dose 1,000 times stronger than intended.
He recovered, and his parents turned the scare into a public campaign for safer hospitals, including testimony before Congress in 2008. Thomas himself has stayed out of the spotlight, which is one reason so many web pages about him repeat wrong birth dates and wrong parents. This guide sticks to what reliable reporting confirms.
| Quick Facts | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Thomas Boone Quaid |
| Date of Birth | November 8, 2007 |
| Age | 18 years (as of November 2026) |
| Father | Dennis Quaid |
| Mother | Kimberly Buffington |
| Twin Sister | Zoe Grace Quaid |
| Half-Brother | Jack Quaid |
| Half-Brother’s Mother | Meg Ryan |
| Known For | Surviving the 2007 heparin overdose |
| Education | Finished high school in 2026 |
| Current Status | Reportedly started college |
Age and Birth Details
Thomas was born on November 8, 2007, at 8:26 a.m., weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and Zoe followed two minutes later at 5 pounds, 9 ounces. The twins were born through a surrogate, as the New Zealand Herald reported at the time.
A publicist announced the births and passed along a brief statement from the couple: “God has definitely blessed us.” Reports place the birth in the Los Angeles area, and some name a Santa Monica hospital, but no primary source confirms the exact facility, so it is left out here.
Age is the one fact in this article that changes. Thomas turns 19 on November 8, 2026.
Family Background
Dennis Quaid, known for The Right Stuff and The Parent Trap, married Kimberly Buffington on July 4, 2004. She has worked in real estate and keeps a low profile. Thomas and Zoe are the only children the couple share.
Thomas also has an older half brother, Jack Quaid, from his father’s marriage to actor Meg Ryan, which lasted from 1991 to 2001. Jack became an actor and has appeared in The Hunger Games films. Dennis Quaid has three children in total, according to Hollywood Life’s rundown of his kids.
The November 2007 Heparin Overdose
What Happened at Cedars-Sinai
Weeks after their birth, the twins were back at Cedars-Sinai being treated for a staph infection, CBS News reported. On Sunday, November 18, 2007, three young patients, including Thomas and Zoe, had their IV lines flushed with heparin at 10,000 units per milliliter instead of the intended 10 units. Heparin prevents clots in catheters. The hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Michael Langberg, called it a “preventable error.”
Cedars-Sinai later said two pharmacy technicians failed to verify the vials’ concentration before they were placed in the pediatrics unit, where the weaker version is kept. Dennis Quaid has said the twins received the wrong dose twice. Doctors gave them protamine, a drug that reverses heparin’s effects.
The Hours After
When the Quaids arrived the next morning, a cluster of doctors was working on the babies. Dennis told AARP it was chilling to watch, and that the twins were bleeding from places where they had been poked and prodded.
TMZ broke the story, and the California Department of Public Health opened an investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times. Cedars-Sinai apologized and said blood tests showed no apparent ill effects on the three patients. By January 2008, Dennis was telling Access Hollywood the twins were doing great.
Why This Error Was So Easy to Make
Heparin comes in very different strengths, and the vials can look alike. Baxter, the manufacturer, says the drug is used more than 100,000 times a day, according to WebMD. Quaid’s legal team pointed to similar blue labeling on heparin and a related flush product.
A similar mix-up had killed three infants at an Indianapolis hospital a year earlier, WebMD reported. That earlier case is part of why the Quaids believed the danger was known and fixable.
Did the Overdose Cause Lasting Harm?
Reliable reporting describes a recovery. Cedars-Sinai said tests showed no ill effects, and no source describes a lasting health condition for either twin. The later hospital settlement included free medical care for any problems tied to the overdose, which suggests the family wanted that protection in writing.
The Lawsuit, the Settlement, and Congressional Testimony
The Quaids did not sue the hospital first. In December 2007 they filed a product liability suit in Chicago against Baxter Healthcare, seeking more than $50,000. They argued the packaging was too confusing, and Dennis said Baxter had not recalled older bottles even after changing its labels in October 2007. Baxter said the overdose was human error at the hospital and unrelated to its product’s safety.
The family later reached a separate settlement with Cedars-Sinai. A court petition reported by Access Hollywood put it at $500,000, divided evenly between the twins, plus free medical care for any issues arising from the overdose. Dennis told AARP he avoided suing the hospital because good hospitals matter. Institutional Investor reported that the Baxter suit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, a ruling Quaid said he would appeal.
On May 14, 2008, Dennis and Kimberly testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They asked lawmakers not to strip patients of the right to sue drug makers under state law. Dennis said he once thought frivolous lawsuits were a major problem, but now believed “the courts are often the only path to justice.”
What Changed After the Case
The Quaids started The Quaid Foundation in 2008 to push for fewer preventable hospital errors, and bedside bar coding became a main request. In that system, a nurse scans their own badge, the patient’s wristband, and the medication before giving a dose, as WebMD explains.
Cedars-Sinai told WebMD it was building a hospital-wide clinical system that includes bar coding. The hospital told AARP it had started adding safety measures before the twins’ overdose, so credit for specific changes is disputed. Dennis later worked with patient-safety physician Charles Denham, and Wikipedia’s entry on him says he produced documentaries on preventable medical errors for the Discovery Channel.
Growing Up Outside the Spotlight
Thomas’s childhood overlapped with his parents’ split. Kimberly filed for divorce in 2012, withdrew it, then sought a legal separation that October, and Dennis filed his own petition that December. Later coverage dates the separation to 2016 and the final divorce to 2018.
They share legal and physical custody. Hello! magazine reported that the twins lived with Kimberly about 75 percent of the time and with Dennis 25 percent, because of his filming schedule. TMZ reported that Dennis married his fourth wife, Laura Savoie, in June 2020.
Thomas does not appear to have a public career. No verified social media account or interview of his has surfaced. His father occasionally shares small glimpses of family life, such as telling Fox News about his fear during the July 2025 Texas floods, when Zoe was working as a counselor at a camp near Camp Mystic that turned out to be safe.
Where Thomas Boone Quaid Is Now
Zoe graduated from high school on May 23, 2026, and Thomas’s ceremony was set for June 3, according to Hello! and other outlets. On May 20, Dennis filed a petition to stop paying $13,750 in monthly child support, citing a divorce agreement that ties payments to completing 12th grade, People reported from court documents. The filing also asked that a bonus payment be prorated by graduation dates.
In a later People interview, Dennis said the twins had just started college and that he had dropped them off the week before. His advice to them, as relayed by entertainment outlets, is to find something they love and work out how to build a life around it. The schools and Thomas’s field of study have not been made public.
Separating Fact From Fiction Online
Search results for Thomas are crowded with low-quality pages that contradict each other. Different ones give his birthday as April 8, April 28, June 28, or July 28, while reliable reporting around his birth points to November 8, 2007. Some name Meg Ryan, P.J. Soles, or Meg Tilly as his mother, and one gives him a twin brother. His mother is Kimberly Buffington, and his twin is a sister.
Others call him a musician or an actor and cite Instagram handles. None of that traces back to a news organization or a primary source. When a claim about Thomas lacks a named source or a public record, treat it as unverified.
Net Worth and Public Income
Thomas has no publicly reported earnings, business, or career, so no credible net worth estimate exists. The one dollar figure tied to him directly is the hospital settlement, reported as $500,000 split between him and Zoe. Anyone quoting a net worth for him is guessing.