In medical terms, a Never Event is simply something that should not ever occur and that may have a significantly negative outcome. These Never Events do happen, of course, despite the name—but they are often instances of medical malpractice.
One of the most common examples of a Never Event is when a doctor performs wrong-site surgery. This can mean that they operate on the wrong patient, carry out the wrong procedure or simply operate at the wrong location—such as performing lung surgery on the left side of someone’s body rather than the right.
Why is this malpractice?
Never Events are medical malpractice because it takes some element of negligent action by the medical professionals for the event to take place. If the patient had received the expected standard of care, the event would not have occurred.
For example, perhaps a surgeon is supposed to review the documentation, talk to the patient and make a mark or an X on the surgical location so that they know where it should be performed. But that surgeon is in a hurry and skips these steps, just quickly glancing at the paperwork. If they then operate at the wrong location, it’s their negligence that led to such a significant mistake—which could have catastrophic consequences for the patient.
Seeking compensation
Through a medical malpractice lawsuit, you may be able to seek financial compensation for pain and suffering, additional medical bills, lost wages and even long-term issues like reduced earning capacity, disability or disfigurement. Just be sure you know exactly what legal steps to take at this time.
