No one doubts West Virginia health care providers have busy schedules or perform important, sometimes life-saving, tasks. Humans make mistakes, but some errors are less forgivable than others, particularly when someone else’s health is endangered. Doctors and other service providers are obligated to meet high quality standards of care.
Many adverse events that occur in doctors’ offices, hospitals and operating rooms are caused by medical professional negligence. Among the most disturbing mistakes are wrong-site surgeries – surgeons operating on the incorrect body part. The reasons for these errors are numerous and absolutely preventable.
Unnecessary Procedures
Mistakes responsible for these unnecessary surgeries are often made in advance of an operation. The Joint Commission and professional medical associations agree Universal Protocol should be followed before, during and after each surgery to limit the chance for negligence. However, an agreement to act responsibly doesn’t mean the actions are used in practice.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has recommended a joint effort between doctors, health care facilities and other providers to establish a set of rules to prevent surgical errors. This plan includes improved pre-surgical and postsurgical doctor-patient communications.
Doctors are encouraged to mark the site clearly where surgery is to take place, while in the presence of the patient. Other methods, like intraoperative X-rays, are used to pinpoint exact locations for spinal operations. The surgeon and members of the operating room staff would be responsible for verifying the site and planned procedure are correct — before surgery takes place.
These preparatory measures can ensure a wrong-site surgery is avoided. Members of the surgical team also are expected to make sure all patient records and test results are present and accurate before surgery begins. The AAOS also insists surgeons be truthful with patients, as soon as possible, when mistakes occur.
Injured patients have a right to pursue compensation for medical malpractice injuries, whether or not surgeons admit errors occurred.
Can Wrong-Site Surgeries be Prevented?
Charleston, West Virginia, patients have every right to expect doctors to be educated, well-trained, licensed and focused upon providing the highest quality care. Most surgeons live up to these expectations, but doctors are capable of making serious mistakes. Wrong-site surgeries are preventable forms of physician negligence.
Surgeries are cooperative efforts involving facility operators, preoperative medical personnel, operating room staff members and patients. Errors can occur for multiple reasons including a lack of careful planning, miscommunication and surgical carelessness. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, like other specialized medical organizations, recommends doctors apply the rules of Universal Protocol, approved by the Joint Commission, to prevent wrong-site surgeries.
The guidelines aren’t working as well as the AAOS had hoped. The organization promotes a “unified effort” in the medical community to reduce surgical mistakes and for the health care providers, curb insurance payments made for wrong-site claims. The AAOS reported 84 percent of wrong-site ortheopaedic surgery claims resulted in payouts, compared to 30 percent of other types of claims.
Many Universal Protocol rules apply at the preoperative level. Standards urge strong pre-surgery communication between doctors and patients; verification of patient identity and associated medical documents, tests and records; certainty of the procedure to be performed and confirmation and marking of the correct surgery site. Checklists and pre-surgery, operating room “time-outs” are used to make sure doctors have full knowledge and proper resources.
The AAOS also instructs surgeons how to behave when a wrong-site surgery occurs. The organization stresses acting in a patient’s best interests by taking corrective actions and informing patients and family members about errors. The guidelines address how doctors should respond when mistakes are detected during or after general and local anesthesia surgeries.
Although surgeons are compelled to admit mistakes, some doctors and hospitals try to hide errors. Wrong-site surgery victims may file legal claims to recover compensation for injuries, medical expenses and other losses.
