Surgical mistakes on the rise

By Laura Vogltanz

Published on April 19, 2006

In 2005, health care facilities throughout the United States reported 84 operations that involved the wrong body part or the wrong patient. This number, according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, could be just the tip of the iceberg considering some states don't require hospitals to report such errors.

A recent study, published in "Archives of Surgery", researched 2.8 million operations over a 20-year period. The study suggests that the rate of these "wrong site" surgeries is one in approximately 113,000 operations. Spine surgeries were not included in the study since these operations require verified X-rays. The study concluded that this rate is rare, but still unacceptable.

Some blame these numbers on standardized conduct not being adhered to, such as doctors inadequately marking the operation site on the body, or nurses not calling a "time out" before the surgery for a final safety check to ensure the right procedure is performed.

Patient safety experts say additional attention is needed before more cases like these occur. The National Patient Safety Foundation is hoping to get this number down to zero before too long.

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