A common nightmare for patients undergoing surgery is having surgical tools left behind inside the body. While a patient is on the operating table, sponges and towels may fall into open wounds. Additionally, broken pieces of instruments, stapler parts, and other sharp objects may also be left inside patients’ bodies.

In 2013, The Joint Commission, a healthcare safety watchdog group, released a report which discovered more than 770 incidents of foreign objects being left in patients both during and after surgery throughout a seven year period. In fact, the cases resulted in 16 deaths. Moreover, 95 percent of the cases required patients to remain in the hospital for a longer period of time. The incidents most commonly occurred in operating rooms, labor and delivery rooms, ambulatory surgery centers or “labs where invasive procedures such as catheters or colonoscopies take place.” Lack of policy and procedure, as well as failure to comply and communicate, were cited as common causes.

One of the goriest stories involving surgical tools left behind include a string of incidents which occurred at the University of Wisconsin. For five years in a row doctors left surgical tools in five patients. Two of these incidents involved a 13-inch retractors—a surprisingly long object to overlook.

Connecticut hospitals, however, do not have a much better track record. According to the Hartford Courant, state hospitals reported 65 cases of surgeons having left objects in patients between 2004 to 2008. One Hartford Hospital patient went through the same devastating experienced as the patient at the University of Wisconsin—a 13 by 2-inch retractor was left inside her body. It was not until two weeks after the initial operation that the mistake was discovered: the patient returned to the hospital complaining of sharp abdominal and neck pain, and then had to undergo a subsequent operation.

If you or someone you know underwent a surgery and experienced subsequent complications, perhaps caused by having surgical tools left behind, the most important step is to seek legal counsel. You do not go through it alone. An experienced Connecticut medical malpractice attorney can assist with your case and look out for your best interests. Call 203-226-6168 today to schedule your free initial consultation.

A report issued by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined the cause of last year’s fatal New York City train derailment: the train engineer fell asleep due to an undiagnosed sleep disorder.

The fatal accident occurred on an early Sunday morning last December. The Manhattan-bound Metro-North commuter train was going 50 miles per hour over the speed limit—more than three times the allowed speed—when it went around a curve and suddenly derailed. Four of the 115 people on board the train were killed in the accident and another 67 people were injured. The locomotive and all seven of the passenger cars jumped the tracks, causing approximately $9 million worth of damage.

According to the NTSB’s report, the train engineer suffered from sleep apnea, which causes the airways to become obstructed or collapse during sleep and can cause sufferers to struggle with drowsiness.

In the engineer’s case, the disorder had never been diagnosed and he was unaware that he suffered from the problem. The report pointed out that the railroad had no policy in place to screen employees for sleep disorders. Compounding the engineer’s condition was a sudden change in his work schedule, having been moved to an early morning work shift just prior to the train crash.

Additionally, Senator Richard Blumenthal noted how the NTSB report showed “the cascading catastrophes over a single year illustrating the urgent need for dramatic upgrades and improvements in safety and reliability.” In fact, positive train control, a specific technology that was not in use during the time of the derailment, can “automatically bring a train to a stop” if speeding.

Statics from the Federal Railroad Administration show that there are more than 3,000 train accidents every year causing deaths, injuries, and property damage. Not only are passengers at risk for death and injury for many preventable train accidents, but railroad employees are particularly vulnerable in these incidents.

If you have lost a family member in an accident caused by the negligence of someone else, contact an experienced Westport wrongful death attorney today to find out what legal compensation you may be entitled to for pain or loss.

This November, a California surgeon was placed on probation after mistakenly removing a patient’s right kidney. The operation, conducted in 2012, was supposed to be performed on the patient’s left, cancerous kidney. The surgeon, a urologist who was licensed for 41 years, performed the operation from memory—a mistake that has since required an additional surgery for the patient.

While wrong-site operations are not the most frequent of surgical errors, they are more common than one may think. A 2010 study of 6,000 doctors revealed 27,370 adverse events which occurred during surgeries performed between January 2002 and June 2008. Twenty-five were identified as wrong-patient surgeries and 107 were identified as wrong-site operations. “Of these,” reports USA Today, “five patients who received unnecessary surgery and 38 who received wrong-site operations were significantly harmed.” One patient who underwent a wrong-site surgery died as a result.

Additionally, a 2006 study reported by CNN revealed even more disturbing statistics. The study found that approximately 2,700 mistakes that involve a wrong-patient or wrong-site operation are made every year. When broken down, this equals nearly seven mistakes made every day. And while the mistakes may not be made intentionally, when they do occur, they can have far-reaching, negative consequences.

Doctor Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, reported in The Wallstreet Journal that although doctors take a vow to do no harm, they also operate under another unspoken rule in the field: “to overlook the mistakes of our colleagues.” Makary revealed how the astute perception of a nurse once saved him from cutting into a patient’s lung after an intern had prepped the wrong side. He also added how “U.S. surgeons operate on the wrong body part as often as 40 times a week.”

One recent event in Oregon left a little boy, who had come in for surgery to correct a lazy eye, with two painful operations. As the doctor was completing the procedure, she realized the operation had been performed on the wrong eye. “I feel like we had a right to know the second she realized she was in the wrong eye,” the boy’s mother told CNN. As a professional surgeon, the boy’s mother believes the doctor should have realized right away that she was not operating in the eye with the problem.

When a doctor makes a surgical error, such performing a wrong-site operation, a patient is likely eligible for compensation. If this has happened to you, you do not have to go through it alone. Contact a compassionate and experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney today. We are here to help you get the compensation you deserve.