Retained Objects

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that foreign objects are retained in one out of every 1,000 surgical patients. The retained objects could be a needle, clip, sponge or even a towel.
When a patient has surgery, nurses are responsible for counting everything that goes into a patient to make sure it all comes back out. This seems basic enough. However, nurses sometimes lose count or do not chart things properly. This mistake can result in pain, infections, additional surgeries, and even death.

Actual Case:
$200,000 awarded in March 2001 in California

The Case:
Retained sponge led to arachnoiditis and back and leg problems.

The Details:
Plaintiff underwent a multilevel laminectomy and fusion of the L-5. S-I vertebra levels performed by defendant orthopedic surgeon. Despite two separate sponge counts recorded as accurate by the nurses, a retained sponge was left in plaintiff's back.

Weeks later, plaintiff developed a postoperative wound infection and sought treatment. Only then did he become aware of the presence of the sponge. Plaintiff underwent three additional surgeries to remove the sponge and treat complications arising from the sponge.

Plaintiff settled with the hospital for $40,000. Meanwhile, a $200,000 plaintiff verdict was returned against the other defendants.