Surgical never events refer to surgical errors that should never happen but, unfortunately, do because of the medical negligence of a medical care provider. Greater than 4,000 preventable errors occur in surgeries every year at a great cost to victims.
Examples of never events that can happen during surgery include performing surgery on the wrong site of the victim’s body, performing the wrong medical procedure on the victim or leaving a sponge or other foreign object in the victim. Researchers found that foreign objects are left in the victim’s body 39 times each week; that the wrong procedure is performed on the victim 20 times each week; and that the wrong site of the victim’s body is operated on 20 times a week.
In addition, there is concern that these numbers may not reflect all of the never events that take place and one expert noted that was is known is alarming. These types of medical errors are considered preventable because they occur because of doctor or other medical care provider negligence. When a victim has been harmed by the negligence of a surgeon, doctor, nurse, hospital or other medical care provider, they may be able to pursue compensation for their damages through a medical malpractice claim for damages.
Victims may be left with a host of damages following a never event or incident of malpractice which they need help with. Personal injury legal protections, such as a medical malpractice claim for damages, can serve as a resource to help them with them with their damages when they have been harmed by a medical error and their confidence in their medical treatment has been undermined.
