Shocking New Study on Surgical Errors

In Patient Confidential, Tips and Advice To Keep You Safe As You Navigate the Healthcare System, I identify two types of surgical mistakes. I call them "botched procedures," where the surgeon just doesn't do the operation well or leaves instruments in your body, and "wrong procedures," where for example, the surgeon operates on the wrong knee. I say, among other precautions "you should recite the procedure to the doctor when you are seen right before the procedure. 'Hi, Dr. Smith, you're replacing my left knee, correct?' Before the anesthesiologist asks if you are ready to be put to sleep, remind him of any drug to which you are allergic."

Johns Hopkins Hospital released a study recently which supports this advice. The study estimated there are over four thousand malpractice claims filed each year for what it calls "never events," that is things that just should never happen, like sponges or instruments left in the patient or operating on the wrong part of the body. These never events led to permanent injury in 32.9% of patients. These are big numbers and you can do a lot as a proactive patient to avoid being in those statistics.