Surgery is inherently dangerous. It is an invasive medical procedure that can cause severe physical and mental trauma if not performed properly. Issues with anesthesia, mistakes regarding the procedure performed and countless other mistakes can endanger a patient or lead to a poor surgical outcome.
Occasionally, patients undergoing surgery experience never events. Their surgeon does something so unsafe and preventable that it should never occur in a modern medical facility. One of the more common and shocking never events involves a physician leaving foreign objects behind after closing a patient’s incision at the end of a surgical procedure.
What makes retained foreign bodies after a surgery such a potentially devastating medical mistake?
The potential for trauma
The objects left behind in a patient can cause physical injuries. Some of the tools used for surgery, such as clamps, are rigid. They do not move with the body. A patient with rigid objects left inside their incision could unintentionally cause traumatic injuries to themselves by simply sitting up when they come out of anesthesia. Metal and even plastic implements can potentially cause secondary trauma internally that can have catastrophic consequences for the patient.
The risk of inflammation and infection
Frequently, the items left behind after a surgery are not rigid but are instead smaller, more flexible items, such as pieces of surgical balloons or gauze. While such items are unlikely to cause significant physical trauma, they are still dangerous for the patient. Non-sterile items already handled by medical professionals during the surgery could easily cause infection when left inside the patient’s body. Patients are also at risk of the body having an inflammatory response to the presence of a foreign object, even if they avoid infection.
The need for revision procedures
Given the possible harm that foreign objects can cause, a revision procedure is almost always necessary, typically long before the patient has physically recovered from the first procedure. They are at risk of complications and an extended recovery period because of the second operation.
A medical malpractice lawsuit on the basis of a preventable surgical error could compensate patients harmed by medical mistakes that should never happen in modern operating theaters. Understanding that retained foreign bodies are a type of error that should never happen can give patients the confidence to take action.