According to a new report released by the healthcare nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, 20% of hospitals in the United States do not have adequate safety policies for “never events,” which are medical errors that should never happen to a patient. Occurrences that can be characterized as never events include wrong-site surgeries, objects that remain inside the bodies of patients after surgery, deaths from medication errors, and deaths or serious injuries from falls, among others.
Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder argue that the least hospitals can do if they expose their patients to such harm is to ensure that they have a comprehensive policy to mitigate the negative effects of the errors. Binder also says never events should not happen to begin with, noting, “Never events are egregious and they truly should never happen, but at the very least if they do happen, we expect hospitals to take the most humane and ethical approach.”
The medical malpractice lawyers at Crowe & Harris, LLP provide legal services for clients in the state of Massachusetts who have been the victim of a negligent or reckless medical practitioner. If you have a medical malpractice suit to file, call our offices at (617) 404-3417 to discuss your legal options.