Medical malpractice happens in many different ways, but one of the most problematic is wrong-site surgery. This should never happen, which is why it is usually referred to as a never event. When it does occur, it can have catastrophic consequences.
However, wrong-site surgery does not look the same in every case. There are a few different ways that it can play out, with different root causes. Let’s take a look at three examples of how it can happen.
The wrong surgical procedure
To start with, the issue could be that the surgeon carries out the wrong procedure. This can sometimes have devastating consequences, such as if a surgeon inadvertently carried out an amputation on a limb when it was not necessary.
The wrong location
In other cases, the surgeon does perform the correct procedure, but it is at the wrong site or on the wrong side of the body. Maybe they operate on someone’s left elbow instead of their right elbow, for example, or perhaps they operate at the wrong level on the spine—the C1 vertebrae, for instance, instead of the intended T1 vertebrae. .
The wrong patient
Finally, there are cases where surgeons carry out the correct procedure at the right location, but they do not realize that they have the wrong person. A hospital can be a fast-paced environment, where doctors and nurses are trying to quickly see numerous patients, and mixing up medical records could lead to such a mistake.
All of these errors can have major ramifications for the patient. If you have suffered harm, you may be able to seek financial compensation.