Yes, and unintended retained foreign objects happen more than you think. A sponge, surgical towel, swab, or gauze is left in an abdominal cavity. A stint lodged in a urethra. Even drill bits and scissors have been left behind in surgical patients after surgery. According to the Patient Safety Network, retained surgical items (RSI) occur in 1.3 per 10,000 surgeries.
What is an Unintended Retained Surgical Object?
Unintended retained foreign objects are items that doctors and hospital personnel negligently leave in their patients after surgery. “After surgery” is any time after the skin closure at the surgical incision is completed, even if the patient is still in the operating room under anesthesia.
Complications and Symptoms
The complications, symptoms, and health consequences of this type of medical malpractice are extremely painful and sometimes fatal. Retained surgical items symptoms include:
- Severe pain
- Foreign body granuloma (a mass of tissue typically produced in response to infection or the presence of a foreign substance)
- Infection
- Abscesses
- Cysts
- Bodily fluid retention
- Perforation or obstruction of blood vessels
- Internal bleeding and hemorrhaging
- Sepsis (blood poisoning)
- Acute nerve lesions
- Tumors
- Formation of gallstones
- Gastrointestinal injury requiring removal of the intestines
- Immune system disruption
- Death
Preventing instances of medical mistakes
Although the incidence of retained surgical items and the risk factors for these types of medical errors are not fully understood, the fact is that these mistakes happen, and they happen more often than they should—even in a state such as North Carolina with excellent hospitals. Clearly, there are obvious measures a hospital can take to prevent leaving six-inch-long steel forceps inside a patient’s body. One such solution is to keep a list of items used in surgery before closing the incision with stitches.
However, medical providers do not always implement or follow these common-sense, low-cost patient-protection measures. This is negligent medical care. Furthermore, when surgical accidents occur, the burden falls on patients. Not only do patients experience pain and suffering, but they are also on the hook for paying to fix it.
Consequently, doctors carry professional liability insurance to compensate the victims of their malpractice. However, different types of insurance policies may also provide coverage depending upon the circumstances of your retained surgical instruments lawsuit.
Finally, even if a doctor identifies a mistake, remember that it should never have happened in the first place. If harm has resulted, a medical malpractice claim may still be viable.
Legal Standard for Retained Object Cases
Retained object cases are not treated the same as all other medical malpractice cases in North Carolina. Recently, however, the NC legislature passed several “tort reform” measures that make filing a medical malpractice case difficult and costly. Many cases that do not involve catastrophic injuries simply are not economical to file because of these burdens. However, with retained object cases, the legal principle of “res ipsa loquitur ” can eliminate some of these burdens. Res ipsa loquitur removes some legal hurdles to filing a claim against a negligent physician and hospital.
Filing a Medical Malpractice Suit in North Carolina
Contact the North Carolina medical malpractice attorneys for a free consultation on your retained surgical objects case. Maginnis Howard’s attorneys have decades of experience handling complex injury and liability cases, such as those involving RSIs and URFOs. If a surgeon left a foreign object in you or a loved one, contact our experienced personal injury attorneys. We take personal injury cases on a contingency basis. That means you don’t pay unless we recover compensation in your case. Contact us today at one of our three conveniently located offices in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Fayetteville.
