Personal Injury Law

Technology Being Introduced to Cut Risk of Surgical Sponges Being Left in Patients

Last month’s $10 million settlement of a suit brought by a woman who underwent surgery for diverticulitis of the colon wherin a surgical sponge was left behind is a reminder of how frequent this complication occurs and of how potentially dangerous it can be. A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that sponges and other foreign objects were left behind after abdominal surgeries at a rate of 1 for every 1,000 to 1,500 such operations. Several medical-products companies say sponges are the most common foreign objects left behind in surgeries. Sponges are made of gauze and are used to soak up blood and protect organs during surgery, but if left inside the body they can cause potentially deadly infections. Retrieving a sponge in a further surgery can cost $50,000 or more.

Full post as published by Legal Blog on January 13, 2008 (boomark / email).