People routinely place their lives in the hands of medical professionals in Utah like surgeons, trusting that they will be careful and responsible. At the same time, people understand that accidents do happen. Surgery can be a difficult process, and there are some complications, like infections, that may occur even if the doctors do everything right. Still, there are certain surgical mistakes that medical professionals universally agree should never occur. If you have been a victim of malpractice, our Salt Lake City, UT hospital negligence lawyer can help.
What are medical “never events?”
Generally speaking, “never events” include leaving surgical implements in a patient, performing operations on the wrong site, performing the wrong type of operation, and performing the surgery on the wrong patient. Despite this universal agreement that such completely preventable mistakes should never happen, a major study from Johns Hopkins University revealed that surgeons make these sorts of errors with startling regularity. This study has become a significant warning bell when it comes to surgical errors and is often referred to by a Salt Lake City UT hospital negligence lawyer.
What did the major study reveal?
The study used data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), a database of medical malpractice claims. All hospitals are legally required to report malpractice settlements and judgments to the NPDB.
Researchers pulled out total error rates based on the thousands of medical malpractice judgments and settlements over a 20-year period. They estimate that there are over 4,000 preventable surgical errors in the U.S. every year. These sorts of errors often result in a patient’s death approximately 6.6 percent of the time, with another 32.9 percent of patients suffering a permanent injury from the never event.
What types of precautions should hospitals, surgeons, and other medical professionals be taking to avoid never events?
Fortunately, there are a variety of precautions that hospitals can take to ensure that these sorts of preventable errors do not occur. For instance, some hospitals have specific protocols in place to inventory surgical implements like towels and sponges before and after surgery to ensure that the doctors leave nothing behind inside the patient.
Beyond that, many hospitals also use special review procedures at the start of surgery, ensuring that the patient’s records for the surgery match the patient on whom the doctor is about to operate. Additionally, practitioners can also use permanent markers to label the operation site. This can help prevent surgeons from operating in the wrong place or operating on the wrong patient.
Unfortunately, there are still hospitals that do not adhere to these strict protocols and procedures, and this is why so many patients suffer needless and preventable injuries.
Contact Our Firm for Help Today
If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, call an experienced Salt Lake City UT hospital negligence lawyer from Rasmussen & Miner today and find out what legal recourse you may have.
