The idea that a surgeon could perform the wrong procedure on a patient may seem ludicrous initially. After all, surgeons have to carefully prepare for each procedure. Typically, with exceptions for emergency surgeries, people schedule procedures weeks or months in advance. People have to undergo bloodwork and engage in various forms of preparation before an operation. Medical staff also have to prepare appropriately.
How could a surgeon perform the wrong procedure on a patient with so much preparation required before an operation?
Surgeons have demanding schedules
What may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a patient is just another day at work for the health care professional involved. In fact, many surgeons have to perform multiple procedures in a single day.
As such, it is possible for them to end up confusing their schedule or even mixing up medical records. In some cases, surgeons may forget the order in which they have scheduled the patients.
If they do not take proactive steps to identify the patient before initiating the procedure, they might perform the wrong procedure. The patient may undergo an unnecessary operation that does not provide any medical benefits and may not be able to undergo the surgery they require shortly afterward.
Other times, overworked and fatigued doctors might forget what day it is, which can have the same impact as mixing up patients. Ideally, support staff members and facility procedures reduce the likelihood of wrong patient or wrong procedure errors occurring. Surgeons and the people helping them perform operations do not always adhere to best practices, which can result in severe, preventable surgical errors.
Unfortunately, wrong procedure errors are among the most common surgical never events reported in domestic hospitals. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in response to a serious surgical error can sometimes help people recover the losses they sustained because of such errors.
