Surgeries can save lives. Successful surgeries can produce amazing benefits for patients, curing them of severe illnesses or improving their physical appearances. Unfortunately, however, some surgeries go wrong and result in serious harm to patients. One of the most common surgical errors occurs when a surgical instrument or object is left inside the patient’s body. Objects can be left inside patients during other procedures, too, such as during the delivery of babies. These objects are often called “retained foreign objects.” Negligently leaving surgical objects in a patient’s body after surgery is a form of medical malpractice. Reach out to a Miami retained foreign object lawyer to discuss legal options after this error.
Almost any object can be left inside a patient during a surgery or other medical procedure. Surgical sponges are the most common retained objects, but the following objects are also often left inside patients:
There are a few reasons that retained foreign objects remain a troublesome health care problem. First, there are no uniform national standards for preventing retained foreign objects. Hospitals and other surgical centers establish their own procedures to account for all of the objects used during surgery.
Second, health care professionals sometimes do not follow those procedures properly or completely. The deviations from the procedures are largely unintentional. However, some situations can make it difficult for the health care providers to follow proper procedures, including:
An attorney in Miami could determine the cause of a retained foreign object and hold the correct people accountable.
Retained foreign objects may remain in the body for a long time before symptoms occur, complicating the problems that they cause. Regardless of when they are discovered, retained foreign objects can cause a number of severe medical harms, including:
Retained foreign objects also commonly necessitate additional medical care that goes beyond the original surgical procedure. That extra care can include:
Of course, this additional medical care results in more expense to the patient. Retaining a Miami lawyer means you could account for all expenses and losses in a claim related to a retained foreign object.
Yes. Hospitals and other health care facilities establish various checks to prevent incidents involving retained foreign objects. Some of the procedures that hospitals use to reduce the risk of retained foreign objects include:
If you have – or believe that you may have – suffered an injury due to a retained foreign object, then please contact us at Kaire & Heffernan, today for a free and confidential consultation about your case. You may contact us online or via phone by calling 305-876-6001 to arrange your consultation with a Miami retained foreign object lawyer. For no charge, you can tell us about your injury and learn how the legal system may handle your retained foreign object case. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you.
(305) 876-6001