CBNNews.com - A medical mistake at an Indianapolis hospital ends in the death of newborns, while another infant fights for its life. Tonight many are questioning whether this deadly drug mix-up could have been prevented.

At the newborn intensive care unit of Methodist Hospital, the staff is blaming the newborn deaths on human error. Somehow the wrong dose of a blood-thinner medication, Heparin, was stocked in a hospital drug cabinet.

President and CEO of Methodist Hospital, Sam Odle, said, "They're both one-milliliter vials. One has 10,000 units of heparin, one has 10 units of heparin...so the nurses -- knowing they only carry one dose on the unit -- took the vial out and administered it to the patients."

The mistake proved deadly.

In all, six premature babies were given adult doses of the drug. Three babies are in stable condition. Another is in critical condition. Two babies died.

Although the meds look alike, many are wondering, with the cross-check of computer inventory, is this a mix-up the nurses should have caught?

"I have always been confident that the drug that I'm looking at is the drug that's in the drawer," said a nurse. "But, of course, it's still my responsibility to assure it's the right drug."

Still, an apology is all the hospital staff can give to the parents of the infants.

"The only thing we could say is that we're sorry and that we're committed to making the hospital as safe as possible," said Odle.

The hospital is taking precautions to prevent a mistake like this from ever happening again.

Under new guidelines, the hospital staff will double-check drug labels and remove certain doses of the blood-thinning drug, heparin, from their unit.