Never Means Never

In healthcare settings, “never events” are egregious and shocking errors that take place which are clearly identifiable and entirely preventable — they should never happen.  Never events are considered rare, but they still occur far more frequently than most people realize. In a Johns Hopkins study spanning the years 1990–2010, approximately 80,000 never events occurred in U.S. hospitals (it’s likely many others went unreported).

In 2011, the National Quality Forum, an independent healthcare quality assurance organization, categorized never events that cause injury or death into seven classifications:

• Surgical never events include foreign objects left in patients; the wrong surgical procedure performed; and wrong-site surgeries.

• Defective product never events cover contaminated drugs or devices used during a procedure, and products being utilized incorrectly

• Care management never events run the gamut from medication errors, failure to communicate lab results to a patient, and unsafe administration of blood products, to the wrong donor sperm or egg used in artificial insemination, and childbirth injuries in low-risk pregnancy situations.

• Environmental never events comprise unsafe healthcare settings and include patient injuries due to electric shock, burns, and other hazards.

• Patient protection never events encompass scenarios such as patients who are discharged who are unable to make their own decisions or a patient’s disappearance from a healthcare facility.

• Radiological never events are the most recent ones added to the list. One example is a metal object located within the area where an MRI is being performed.

• Criminal never events can include someone impersonating a medical professional, patient abuse, and patient abduction.

Facilities attempt to cover these events up or try to sweep them under the rug. If you or someone you know has been injured by medical malpractice, you need a skilled, thoughtful, and experienced attorney on your side to fight for you. Please contact our firm to discuss your case.