When you entrust your health and safety to a Texas medical team, you can expect certain things. For instance, you can reasonably expect that your doctor, surgeon, nurses, lab technicians and other medical workers will strictly adhere to all state laws and accepted safety standards when providing you care or treatment.
Sadly, “never events” are a rising concern in this state and throughout the country. A never event occurs when a medical worker’s negligence results in patient injury regarding an incident that was easily preventable. If you’re scheduled for surgery on your left hip, and the surgeon accidentally operates on your right hip instead, it constitutes as a never event.
Never events include wrong-site and wrong-procedure surgeries
You might be surprised to learn that surgeons sometimes operate on the wrong parts of the body. This error is known as “wrong-site surgery,” and it happens more than most people think. You can no doubt understand why it’s classified as a never event. There are protocols in place to prevent wrong-site surgery errors.
In addition to operating on the wrong body part, surgeons might perform the wrong procedure altogether. This is also a never event. If you go to a hospital expecting one type of surgery and awaken from anesthesia to learn that the surgeon performed a procedure that was meant for another patient, you would be understandably shocked and upset.
Your medical team must confirm your identity
Before wheeling you to an operating room, your medical team must make sure that you are the correct patient scheduled for the impending procedure. Not doing so would be a case management violation. Other such violations might include medication errors or injuries due to negligence, such as bed sores from not turning a patient as required.
All Texas hospitals have a patient safety system in place
Your nurses know how to avoid never events, especially regarding administering medication. There is a list of checks and balances that most hospitals use to make sure you receive the correct medication in the proper dosage at the prescribed time by the appropriate route, meaning through injection, orally or topically.
Suffering an injury because of a never event can cause severe emotional trauma. While you’re undoubtedly aware that there are inherent risks involved in all medical procedures, you should be able to trust that your medical team will not make careless mistakes that result in injury. If that happens, you shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for patient advocacy support.