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 study conducted by the Ariadne Labs and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that more money is made by American hospitals if a surgery goes wrong. As shared on the Harvard School of Public Health’s website, lead study author and Chief Medical Officer of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary stated how their finding of  “clear evidence that reducing harm and improving quality is perversely penalized in our current health care system.” Hence, if a patient goes in for surgery, he or she may experience worse complications afterwards than those experienced leading up to the surgery.

The report also noted that patients in the U.S. spend an estimated $400 billion on surgery every year. Those with private insurance, who had experienced complications after surgery, amounted for a 330 percent profit margin increase than those whose surgeries were successful. Therefore, this staggering number suggests that hospitals and private doctors are rewarded for incompetence rather than successful medicine.

Patients with government-subsidized insurance (Medicaid) who experienced complications during surgery also amounted for a higher profit margin for hospitals and doctors, but to a much lesser extent. For those privately insured, the report notes a $39,017 higher profit margin per patient in regards to associated complications. The profit margin was higher by less than $1,800 for Medicare patients.

According to WebMD, pain is the most common surgical complication. The degree of pain complication depends on the degree of invasiveness of the surgery. Other common side effects of surgery can include simple but extreme fatigue, or potentially fatal effects like severe blood clots.

If you or someone you know has experienced complications post-surgery and believe the hospital or surgeon to be at fault, please contact an compassionate Westport medical malpractice lawyer for a free initial consultation. Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, represents clients in Westport, Weston, Darien, Norwalk, Stamford, Wilton, Greenwich, New Canaan, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Wilton, Ridgefield, Danbury and Trumbull as well as Fairfield County and New Haven County in Connecticut. Call 203-226-6168 today to discuss your case.  

Knee replacements have long been one of the most common surgical implants. They are also one of the most common procedures in which patients experience subsequent problems because the device used was defective or not up to safety standards (though approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)).

According to a consumer report from SafePatientProject.org, 4.4 million Americans have knee implants, the vast majority of which were prescribed for osteoarthritis of the knee. Regardless of how many such procedures are undergone every year in the U.S., replacement surgeries continue to be a serious factor in the medical industry. Reported by the SafePatientProject, “an estimated 536,000 adults currently living with knee implants have undergone revision procedures to replace their implants.”

It is not as if the implants that needed to be replaced were manufactured by smaller or lesser-known companies. Biomet, DePuy, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, Wright, and Zimmer have all recalled knee implants that were used in patient surgery and that had previously been approved by the FDA. As of September 2103, DePuy had the most recalls, and Zimmer was a close second.

This July, however, Zimmer manufacturing “initiated another sweeping recall on one of its artificial knee implants,” according to DrugWatch.com. Noted by DrugWatch, the NexGen MIS Tibial Component is being recalled because of the tendency of the pieces to loosen or fail. There is no other explanation being offered other than shoddy manufacturing.

No matter the reason, more than 40,000 of these devices have been recalled, affecting thousands of patients nationwide. If a patient does not have the device removed, he or she may face side effects that include (but are not limited to):

• Bone loss;
• Early revision surgery;
• Infection; and
• Dislocation.

In the event of bone loss, infection, or dislocation, some patients could actually end up worse off than they were before the initial implant surgery.

If you or someone you know has had a Zimmer knee implant surgery performed in Connecticut, do not go through it alone. Contact Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, an experienced Connecticut medical malpractice attorney, for a free initial consultation today.