In a hospital, there are certain things that should never happen. There are often many safeguards in place to prevent them. These are known as “never events.” They do still happen, of course.
For example, wrong-site surgery is a never event. The surgeon should never operate on the wrong side of a person’s body or on the wrong patient entirely. Doing so is a devastating mistake that can cause serious harm to that patient.
Why do these events still occur?
There are many different reasons why never events happen, many of which are related to negligence. For example, if a surgeon is under the influence of alcohol or drugs while they’re on the job, they’re much more likely to make one of these critical errors.
The same could be true if they’re distracted by their cellphone. Both distraction and impairment can lead to mistakes that never would have happened otherwise.
In some cases, miscommunication can cause never events. A surgeon may deliberately try to double-check the records to ensure that they have the right patient, but they’re simply given the wrong information by the nurse or someone else working in the hospital. The surgeon believes they’ve taken all the proper steps to avoid a serious mistake, but they still make that mistake because of this miscommunication.
The key is to realize that never events shouldn’t occur, so they are not an expected or anticipated outcome, even with relatively dangerous procedures and surgeries. Never events only happen because of negligence by medical professionals. As a result, those who have suffered harm may be able to seek financial compensation, and they need to know what legal steps to take to do so.
