Cleveland Medical Malpractice Attorneys Seek Justice for You After a “Never-Event”

Recovering compensation for victims of events that should never happen

The term “Never Event” was introduced in 2001 by Ken Kizer, former Chief Executive Officer of The National Quality Forum (“NSQ”). He used it to refer to shocking medical errors (for example, wrong-site surgery) that should never happen. Since then, a list of Never Events has been maintained by the Forum and updated periodically.

A Never Event now refers to an adverse event that is serious and largely preventable, provided that adequate patient safety measures are taken. In other words, a never event is something bad that happens to a patient that should never happen. The occurrence of a Never Event is almost always the result of medical or hospital negligence. Accordingly, Never Events often result in the filing of medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuits. The medical malpractice attorneys at The Eisen Law Firm have held hospitals accountable for Never Events in Cleveland and throughout Ohio since 1976.

What are the most common examples of Never Events in Ohio hospitals?

Never Events include things such as surgery on the wrong body part, retained foreign objects, contaminated drugs or devices, in-hospital suicide, medication errors, maternal or neonatal death during or after a low-risk labor and delivery, falls resulting in serious injury, development of late-stage bed sores (pressure ulcers), serious injury due to failure to communicate test results, and injuries from burns and restraints. See full list here.

NEVER EVENTS

Surgical events

• Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong body part
• Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong patient
• Wrong surgical or other invasive procedure performed on a patient
• Unintended retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or other procedure
• Intraoperative or immediately postoperative/post-procedure death in an American Society of Anesthesiologists Class I patient (patient’s at low risk of death)

Product or device events

• Patient death or serious injury due to the use of contaminated drugs, devices, or biologics provided by the health care setting
• Patient death or serious injury due to the use of a device in patient care for an unintended purpose
• Patient death or serious injury due to an air embolism in a blood vessel that occurs while being cared for in a health care setting

Patient protection events

• Release of a patient who is unable to make decisions to someone other than an authorized person
• Patient death or serious disability due to patient elopement (when the patient disappears from the facility)
• Patient suicide, attempted suicide, or self-harm resulting in serious disability, while being cared for in a health care facility

Care management events

• Patient death or serious injury from medication error
• Patient death or serious injury due to administration of blood products
• Maternal death or serious injury associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy while being cared for in a health care setting
• Death or serious injury of a neonate associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy
• Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or wrong egg
• Patient death or serious injury due to a fall while being cared for in a health care setting
• Any stage 3, stage 4, or unstageable pressure ulcers acquired after admission to a health care facility
• Patient death or serious disability resulting from the irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen
• Patient death or serious injury caused by failure to follow up or communicate laboratory, pathology, or radiology test results

Environmental events

• Death or serious disability caused by an electric shock in the course of a patient care process
• Any incident in which a line for oxygen or other gas to be given to a patient contains no gas, the wrong gas, or is contaminated by toxic substances
• Death or serious injury associated with a burn incurred from any source in the course of a patient care process
• Death or serious injury due to the use of restraints or bedrails

Radiologic events

• Death or serious injury due to the presence of a metallic object in the MRI area

Criminal events

• Any instance of care ordered by or given by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care provider
• Abduction of a patient
• Sexual abuse/assault on a patient
• Death or significant injury from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of a health care setting

When a Never Event occurs, someone should tell the patient or the patient’s family. A thorough analysis should be done by involved doctors and hospital personnel so that steps can be taken to ensure the event is not repeated. Unfortunately, when hospitals do an investigation, they usually keep the investigation secret. Worse, doctors and hospitals regularly withhold critical information about what happened and how it happened. Instead of disclosing the event to the patient and taking responsibility for the negligence, doctors and hospitals routinely take a different approach. They deny, deny, and deny. And then, they deny some more. Attorneys at The Eisen Law Firm can help you cut through the wall of silence that often is built after a Never Event.