Surgery is often a necessary step to improve health or save lives, but it is not without risks. Among those risks are surgical errors—preventable mistakes that occur during an operation. While no healthcare provider intends to make errors, these incidents can have severe consequences for patients.

Understanding the most common surgical errors can help patients, caregivers, and medical professionals take steps to minimize the risks of medical malpractice.

This article explores the types of surgical errors, their causes, and what patients can do to safeguard themselves before undergoing surgery.

The Most Common Surgical Errors

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has reported that no less than 4000 surgical errors happen in the United States every year.

Surgical errors refer to mistakes made during a surgical procedure that could have been avoided with proper care. They differ from known risks or complications that are unavoidable even when the surgery is performed correctly.

These errors often result from negligence, miscommunication, or system failures in a healthcare facility.

Some of the most commonly seen errors include:

Wrong-Site Surgery

One of the most alarming surgical errors is wrong-site surgery. This occurs when a surgeon operates on the wrong part of the body, such as removing the wrong organ or amputating the wrong limb.

• How It Happens: Wrong-site surgery often happens due to breakdowns in communication, incorrect patient records or notes, or failure to verify medical details before the operation.
• Impact on Patients: The consequences of wrong-site surgery can be devastating, often requiring additional surgeries and leading to severe and life-long physical and emotional distress.

Retained Surgical Instruments

Leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient is another common error that’s 100% preventable. These instruments often include things like sponges, clamps, or other tools used during surgery.

• Why It Happens: An operating room is a fast-paced, often stressful environment, and keeping an accurate count of every surgical instrument can be a challenge. Personal factors like fatigue, distractibility, or general disorganization can lead to deadly oversights.
• Patient Outcomes: Retained instruments can cause infections, pain, and other complications, often requiring further surgery to remove the object.

Anesthesia Errors

These errors often include mistakes like administering the wrong medication, incorrect doses, or failing to adequately monitor a patient’s status. Any of these can lead to severe consequences.

Common types of anesthesia errors include:

• Overdose or Underdose: Giving too much or too little anesthesia can lead to complications ranging from awareness during surgery to cardiac arrest.
• Allergic Reactions: Failing to check for allergies or adverse reactions can result in severe health crises.

The consequences of anesthesia errors can be long-term complications like brain damage or, in extreme cases, wrongful death. Errors in dosages or improperly prescribed medications result in approximately 7,000 to 9,000 fatalities every year, according to reports by the National Library of Medicine.

Nerve Damage

Nerve damage during surgery is another common error, often occurring when surgical instruments are mishandled or excess pressure is applied to nerves.

• When It Happens: Procedures that involve especially delicate parts of the body, like spinal or brain surgeries, carry a higher risk of causing nerve damage.
• Effects on Patients: Patients may experience chronic pain, loss of sensation, or limited mobility, and can significantly impact their future quality of life.

Infections

Surgical site infections can occur when proper sterilization protocols are not followed in the operating room.

• Why It Happens: Improper cleaning of surgical instruments, failure to maintain a sterile environment, or not properly administering antibiotics result in infections.
• Impact: These infections can delay the healing process and lead to sepsis, which can become life-threatening if not addressed promptly and correctly.

Miscommunication and Its Role in Surgical Errors

Many surgical errors are the result of miscommunication among healthcare staff, including misunderstandings about a patient’s current condition, an incomplete transfer of records or instructions during shift changes, or errors in pre-operative preparation or documentation.

Examples of Miscommunication

• Failing to confirm a patient’s identity, surgical site, or prescribed anesthesia.
• Misinterpreting medical abbreviations and written or verbal instructions.

Improving communication protocols, such as using checklists and conducting pre-operative briefings, can significantly reduce these risks.

Fatigue, Overwork, and Understaffing

Surgeons, anesthesiologists, and surgical support staff often work long hours, leading to fatigue and impaired judgment.

Tired medical professionals are more likely to make mistakes, making clear the vital importance of adequate rest and manageable workloads in reducing surgical errors and avoidance of higher risk situations like:

• Increased Patient Loads: When hospitals are understaffed, healthcare workers may be required to care for more patients than they can reasonably or responsibly manage. This increase in duties can result in patients experiencing longer wait times, rushed care, and a greater likelihood of medical errors.
• Reduced Quality of Care: Overworked staff may struggle to maintain the attention to detail needed to provide high-quality care. Understaffing can also lead to missed medication doses, uncompleted patient records, and failure to follow up.
• Burnout and Turnover: Understaffing not only places a strain on current surgery room employees but it’s also a major factor in burnout and turnover. When exhausted workers quit, the remaining staff often has to pick up the greater workload, making the problem even worse.

These errors are all preventable issues that can lead to life-threatening consequences. They often happen as the result of fatigue, communication breakdowns, or not having adequate protocols.

For you, the patient, staying informed, asking questions, and choosing trusted healthcare providers are essential steps in reducing the risk of surgical errors. By fostering better communication and adherence to safety protocols, both you and your healthcare professionals can work together to help ensure safer surgical outcomes.

If you or a loved one believes you’ve suffered from a surgical error, our experienced personal injury attorneys at GDH Law can help you seek justice and fair compensation.