Placing your trust in surgical professionals requires a lot of faith, especially when you’re under anesthesia. You expect to wake up with your medical issue treated, not a new set of health complications.
And yet, that actually happens. Sometimes, patients discover their surgeons made mistakes during the procedure—errors so serious that medical experts say they should never happen.
What is a never event in surgery?
A surgical never event is a preventable mistake, one so severe that the consensus is that it shouldn’t have occurred. In fact, that’s where the term “never event” came from. It was because healthcare experts agreed these incidents should never happen in the first place.
These errors go beyond common surgical complications. They indicate serious lapses in safety protocols or professional judgment. Never events aren’t limited to surgeries. These can also happen in other care or medical instances.
Never events still happening in operating rooms
There are four common surgical mistakes that fall under the never events category. These are:
- Wrong site or wrong body part
- Wrong patient
- Wrong procedure
- Accidentally leaving tools or materials inside the patient
These serious errors can occur when surgical teams skip safety checklists or fail to maintain proper communication.
How never events impact your life
The aftermath of a surgical never event isn’t easy. It usually means devastating physical and emotional consequences for victims. You may face:
- Additional surgeries
- Extended hospital stays
- Permanent disability
- Chronic pain
Beyond physical trauma, there’s also the mental health side of things. You may struggle with anxiety and a loss of trust in healthcare providers.
There’s also the financial consequences. More procedures and extended stays in the hospital mean your bills can skyrocket while your ability to work goes down.
Taking action after a surgical disaster
If you’ve suffered through a surgical never event, you deserve justice and compensation. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can help evaluate your case to determine if you have grounds for legal action. While not every surgery issue qualifies as malpractice, never events typically indicate severe negligence that demands legal accountability.
