Surgical Mistakes

The x-rays and case summaries on this page are from New York medical malpractice lawsuits where surgical equipment was inadvertently left inside the patient at the close of surgery.

Retained sponges/lap pads and other instruments can result in serious conditions including sepsis, intestinal obstruction, fistula or abscess formation and adhesions. A secondary surgical procedure is often required for removal of the retained foreign item, often times with extended hospitalization to fight infection. The surgical team is supposed to count all instruments and pads at the beginning of surgery and again at the end, to avoid this very problem.

X-ray of a retained clamp that the surgical team forgot to remove.	X-ray of a surgical scissor blade that broke off that the surgical team didn’t notice.
Surgical sponge that was left in a patient, identified by the radio-opaque thread inside the sponge.	X-ray of a retained clamp that the surgical team forgot to remove.
Retained laparotomy pad, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, 1998. ‡	Retained laparotomy pad, Jacobi Hospital, Bronx, New York, 1996

‡ This is a pad made from several layers of gauze folded into a rectangular shape and used especially as a sponge for packing off the viscera in abdominal operations. It is identifiable on x-ray by the radio-opaque material that it uses.

Summaries of published cases on the subject can be found here:

• Surgical drain negligently left in the knee of a 79 year old New York woman after a total knee replacement, resulting in infection, multiple surgeries and fusion of the knee.
• An 80-year-old New York woman who had a surgical pad negligently left behind after bowel surgery, resulting in infection, ICU care, temporary tracheotomy and severe weakening of an already fragile condition.
• A surgical sponge that was negligently left behind after bypass surgery at NYU University Medical Center in a 72 year old New York woman, necessitating surgery to remove it from behind her sternum.
• A broken scissor blade negligently left in a Bronx patient after a hysterectomy at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, necessitating surgery to remove it
• A laparotomy pad that was negligently left behind after a Cesarean section for a Bronx woman at Jacobi Hospital, discovered two years later.