There are surgical errors of unfathomable scale that you would think are humanly impossible.
Coined by the National Quality Forum chief executive, “never events” or serious reportable events, as the name suggests, are tragic medical situations that should never have happened.
Per the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, never events account for over 4,000 cases yearly across the country. But although rare and preventable, they still result in severe, even deadly, consequences.
Wrong on many levels
Nothing can be more painful than to learn that your pain has been all in vain. Just imagine having your doctor cut your body open because they must remove a tumor from your kidney, only to find out after the surgery that such a procedure was for another patient.
Thus, one of the categories of never events involves surgical and other invasive procedures.
- Surgical procedure on the wrong patient
- Surgical procedure on the wrong body site, side or part
- Wrong surgical procedure on the right patient and body site, side or part
- Foreign object retention post-surgery
- Death during or post-surgery
Other egregious medical events may also happen due to contaminated equipment, radiology errors, environmental hazards, improper care management practices, health care professional impersonation, patient and resident abduction and abuse.
As a deterrent to medical organizations failing to adhere to their duty of care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed the public that they would not cover any costs associated with never events.
Correcting wrongs
The only thing that must never happen now is for you to cope on your own and let this go without finding out who is responsible. While none of these is your fault, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to know who is. Your Pennsylvania legal team can walk you through your options on filing a medical malpractice claim. By doing so, you can save other victims from future harm.