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Medical treatment is never without risk, but the benefits should outweigh the risks. In most cases, it does – but mistakes happen. Some don’t lead to serious harm, but there are certain errors that no health care professional should ever make. These mistakes are referred to as never events, and if you’re a victim, you may have a case for medical malpractice.
Types of Never Events
Essentially, a never event is the type of mistake that shouldn’t ever happen to a patient during the course of medical treatment. The term was coined back in 2001, and a number of serious situations qualify as never events. Examples that frequently lead to medical malpractice claims include:
- Prescription of the wrong drug or wrong dosage
- Surgery performed on the wrong body part
- The wrong type surgery being performed
- Foreign objects left inside a patient following surgery
- Contaminated drugs or devices provided by a medical facility
- Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm
This list is by no means exhaustive, and health care organizations are under heavy pressure to protect patients from these types of adverse events. Despite this, serious errors do occur – but fortunately, victims have legal rights.
How Common are Never Events?
Research on medical malpractice claims involving never events is scant, but one study identified nearly 10,000 such cases occurring between 1990 and 2010. That averages to roughly 500 claims per year, but this figure has problems.
Paid malpractice claims were the only ones included in the study, meaning those that resulted in a settlement or judgment. In addition, the research only included cases involving surgical adverse events – not those involving prescription errors, contamination issues or other non-surgical events.
In light of this, researchers estimate that yearly number of surgical adverse events is likely over 4,000. And when you factor in medical mistakes that occur outside of surgery, the actual total may be quite a bit higher.
Medical Malpractice Claims for Never Events
If one of your health care providers has made a serious error in your treatment, you may have a case for medical malpractice – and in Columbus, Ohio, the legal team at Clark, Perdue & List can help you get the compensation you deserve.
Malpractice claims can be incredibly difficult to win, and patients who attempt to pursue a claim without the help of an attorney seldom achieve the best outcomes. Our lawyers routinely represent injured victims, and with our decades of experience, we know what it takes to prove a case and secure the maximum in financial compensation.
At Clark, Perdue & List, we offer free consultations – and when you talk to us, you’re under no obligation to work with our law firm. To learn more about the legal services we provide, or to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation with a highly esteemed medical malpractice attorney in Columbus, Ohio, contact us online or call our office today.