Everybody makes mistakes sometimes—but some mistakes are more serious than others. When a mistake in a medical setting is particularly egregious, it may be a “never event.” These are specific serious reportable events (SREs) identified by the National Quality Forum that represent such a threat to patient life and safety that they should never occur—hence the name “never event.”
While medical mistakes unfortunately happen every day, never events are more rare, and much more likely to make the news, such as the recent drug diversion at RRMC, in which patients were deliberately given tap water in IVs instead of pain medication, which resulted in the deaths of multiple patients. Because of their identifiable, preventable, and serious nature, when a never event occurs, the professional who committed the act or the facility where it occurred is often liable for medical malpractice.
What are the Recognized Never Events?
The list of recognized serious reportable events includes:
- Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong site (such as amputating the wrong limb on a patient)
- Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong patient (such as amputating Mr. Smith’s leg when Mr. Jones was the patient in need of the procedure)
- Wrong surgical or other invasive procedure performed on a patient (such as removing a woman’s health ovary instead of her inflamed appendix)
- Leaving a foreign object (such as a sponge) inside a patient after a surgery or other invasive procedure
- Death of an healthy patient during or immediately after surgery or another procedure
- Patient death or serious injury associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices or biologics provided by a healthcare provider
- Patient death or serious injury from the use of a device other than the manner in which it was intended to be used
- Patient death or serious injury associated with an intravascular air embolism that occurred during care in a healthcare setting
- Discharge or release of a patient or facility resident of any age who is unable to make decisions to someone other than an authorized person
- Death or serious injury associated with patient elopement (disappearance)
- Patient suicide, attempted suicide, or self-harm resulting in serious injury during care in a healthcare setting
- Patient death or serious injury associated with a medication error (such as giving the wrong drug or wrong dose of a drug to a patient or giving one patient’s medication to another patient)
- Patient death or injury associated with the unsafe administration of blood products
- Maternal death or serious injury associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy during care in a healthcare setting
- Death or serious injury of a newborn associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy
- Death or serious injury of a patient associated with a fall during care in a healthcare setting
- Serious pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores (Stage 3, Stage 4, and unstageable), acquired after admission or presentation to a healthcare setting
- Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or wrong egg
- Patient death or serious injury resulting from the irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen (such as where a donor organ is mishandled and cannot be transplanted into its intended recipient)
- Patient death or serious injury resulting from failure to follow up or communicate laboratory, pathology, or radiology test results (such as not communicating to a patient that their Pap smear indicates they have cervical cancer)
- Patient or staff death or serious injury associated with an electric shock in the course of a patient care process in a healthcare setting
- Patient or staff death or serious injury associated with a burn in the course of a patient care process in a healthcare setting
- Any incident in which systems designed to deliver oxygen or other gas contain no gas, the wrong gas, or are contaminated
- Patient death or serious injury associated with the use of physical restraints or bedrails during care in a healthcare setting
- Death or serious injury of a patient or staff associated with the introduction of a metallic object into an MRI area
- Care ordered or provided by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or other licensed healthcare provider
- Abduction of a patient or resident of any age
- Sexual abuse or assault on a patient or staff member within or on the grounds of a healthcare setting
- Death or serious injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of a healthcare setting.
The overall number of never events in the United States is difficult to pinpoint, but it is estimated that there are around 4,000 surgical never events in this country each year, which doesn’t include potential criminal events, radiologic events, environmental events, or care management events.
What to Do if You’ve Experienced a Never Event
If you have experienced a never event, you may be facing lifelong disability and the need for extensive additional care. At a minimum, you could be facing a much longer and more challenging road to recovery. And that’s if you’re lucky: if you looked closely at the list above, you saw that many of the serious reportable events may include a death.
The costs of these never events are real and significant to the people who have to live with the aftermath. If you recognize your situation in the list above, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney immediately. The injury or loss you suffered is literally something that should never happen to anyone, and you may be entitled to compensation because it happened to you.
To learn more about never events and get help recovering from one, contact the Fraser Law Firm to schedule a consultation.
