What Are “Never Events” In Surgery?

Undergoing surgery requires placing our trust and our lives into the hands of a surgeon and surgical team while we are unconscious and completely vulnerable. Patients place themselves in this position when they need serious medical intervention with the expectation that their doctor will treat them within the high standard of care accepted by the medical community.

This same medical community describes some surgical errors as “Never Events” because they should never occur under the accepted standard of care. Still, surgical “never events” are not as uncommon as we’d like to think.

In the event you were harmed during a surgical procedure, contact our surgical error lawyer in Chicago today for a free case consultation and take the next step to receiving the compensation you deserve.

Understanding Surgical “Never Events”

Medical journals describe “never events” in surgery as follows:

“… Errors in medical care that are clearly identifiable, preventable, and serious in their consequences for patients, and that indicate a real problem in the safety and credibility of a health care facility.”

These events should never occur because protocols have been established as safeguards against them due to their egregious nature and life-altering adverse effects on affected patients. Still, the following “never events” persist in surgical practice:

• Wrong procedures: When a patient is scheduled for one procedure, but the surgical team performs a different procedure, it’s a medical malpractice “never event.”
• Wrong-patient surgery: This occurs when a communication failure by hospital administrators, staff, or the surgical team results in surgery performed on the wrong patient.
• Wrong-side surgery: This happens most often in orthopedic surgery, when a surgeon operates on the wrong limb. For example, performing a joint replacement procedure on a patient’s left hand rather than the right hand. In the worst examples, amputations are sometimes performed on the wrong limb.
• Wrong-site surgery: This occurs when a surgeon performs surgery on the wrong body part; for instance, removing a patient’s spleen rather than their appendix.
• Surgical tools or instruments left behind: A surgical team must carefully inventory all instruments before and after surgery to ensure that no item is left behind in a body cavity before closure. Still, some patients suffer serious harm from surgical tools or gauze left inside them after surgery.

Although surgical “never events” are relatively rare, an alarming 2013 medical study reported that an estimated 4,000 medical never events happen each year in the United States.

For a patient who suffered a supposed “never event,” the statistics become meaningless. Surgical malpractice causes permanent, catastrophic injury to a patient.

Elements of Liability In “Never Event” Malpractice

Proving liability for medical malpractice requires evidence that demonstrates the following:

• A doctor/patient relationship was established at the time the malpractice occurred
• The medical provider owed a legal duty of care to the patient, requiring them to provide treatment at the medical community’s accepted standard
• They breached this duty of care
• The breach of duty caused the patient’s injury
• The injury victim suffered economic losses as well as physical harm

The physical and financial consequences of a surgical never event are the damages in a medical malpractice claim.

What Is a Catastrophic Injury From a Surgical “Never Event?”

All cases of medical malpractice are serious violations, but a “never event” during surgery often has catastrophic consequences for the patient. In medical malpractice, a catastrophic injury means one with permanent adverse consequences for the injury victim, including the following:

• Loss of limb
• Organ loss
• Permanent scarring
• Loss of vision
• Hearing loss
• Disability
• Disfigurement

In addition to the permanent harm of a surgical never event, the injury victim often requires one or more additional surgeries for the original medical problem and/or to address the surgical error. A successful medical malpractice claim for a catastrophic injury often recovers compensation for past and future medical expenses, lost earnings, compensation for pain, suffering, and permanent injury.

Reach out to a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago from Smith LaCien LLP today for a free consultation.