It sounds almost unimaginable: A surgeon is alleged to have left a foreign body inside of a patient. Typically, it will be a surgical sponge, but surgical instruments and other items have also been left inside and the patient stitched closed.
These cases don’t end well.
What can happen to the patient?
Take, for example, the case of one woman, a mother to two children born by C-section. She experienced abdominal bloating. That symptom can be indicative of many conditions, from mild to quite serious in nature.
A CT scan revealed two masses located bilaterally in the woman’s paracolic gutters, a region in the abdomen where surgeons often use sponges to cushion the inner organs during surgery. They surmised that the sponges were both left inside during one or the other of the woman’s C-sections.
How does this happen?
It’s called a “never event” because when all surgical, hospital and CDC guidelines and requirements are followed, it would never occur. But humans being fallible and prone to mistakes, these surgical errors can happen.
But just because your surgeon never intended to cause you any harm does not mean that they are not liable for the repercussions of their negligence. In many cases, it is also possible to sue the hospital where the procedure was performed, as well as other liable individuals and entities.
You have options after a never event
Your first duty is to your own health and seeking the medical diagnoses and treatment you need. Once the problem is determined, identified and corrected, you can begin to learn more about your legal options to recover financial damages for your losses.