Horrible mistakes can happen in emergency rooms, during surgery, or during routine medical procedures. These mistakes have been labeled as “never events”, because they are things that should never happen, but do happen in the medical community routinely. It’s been estimated that never events happen an average of 80 times a week in the U.S.
The most often discussed never events are surgical events, and can include operating on the wrong person or body part, leaving a foreign object inside a patient, performing the wrong operation, or the death of a healthy patient from anesthesia. All of those occurrences should never happen.
There are also never events that can happen because of a failure to properly oversee patients during a hospital stay. Some common never events that can happen while a patient is in a hospital includes patients disappearing from the facility, patients being given the wrong blood type, the death of a mother or child during routine labor, bed sores that are acquired after being admitted to the hospital, a failure to perform follow up tests, contamination of drugs or medical devices, or air embolisms during a medical procedure.
Although these events are classified as “never events” because they are events that should never happen, they can and do happen routinely. If you or a loved one has been injured or fatally harmed in a medical error that is considered a “never event”, you should speak with an attorney. If you are in the Los Angeles area, call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567. I can help you to make a medical malpractice claim. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.