Surgery On An Incorrect Area - Wrong Site Surgery (WSS)

Surgery On Incorrect Area – Wrong Site Surgery (WSS)

Surgery is an area of medicine in which preventable medical errors and near-misses can occur far more easily than one might like to think. Wrong Site Surgery, sometimes referred to as WSS, is far more common than it should be, yet almost entirely avoidable if suitable procedures are put in place.

Take for example an operation involving removing an ingrowing toe-nail; if the doctor operates on a neighbouring toe rather than the affected one, it could be painful and inconvenient, but unlikely to be life threatening. However, if you went into hospital for surgery on an infected lung, and the doctor operated on the other, healthy lung, the outcome could be extremely serious indeed, and so measures have now been put in place across the board to try and reduce these types of incidents.

Until 1999 when the Institute of Medicine’s ‘To Err is Human’ report was published, there was no process for recognising and reporting these events and so finding ways to avoid them occurring was far more difficult. Since that time a range of measures have been put in place to manage the risks and try to avoid any surgery on the wrong part of the body.

Before surgery takes place, the patient’s body is often marked with ink so that the surgeon can see exactly where he or she is due to operate. These markings are often made by more junior doctors working alongside the surgeon and if the markings are in the wrong place, there is a risk that the surgery will take place in the wrong area.

Methods such as ‘Sign your site’ where that the doctor writes his or her initials next to the markings make it easier to identify who is responsible for any mistakes. By ensuring that checks and double checks are made, the risk of operating on the wrong site can be reduced.

In addition to this, writing the word ‘NO’ on an area that could potentially be mistakenly operated upon has helped to reduce these issues.

In many cases during operation, the patient’s body is covered with a surgical gown or sheeting, so that only the area to be operated upon can be seen. This can increase the risk of operating on the wrong area and so measures such as double-checking details before the pre-operative event have been put in place to avoid this situation occurring.

Sadly the horror stories continue to arise, such as the little boy from Bristol who had one undescended testicle that needed a surgical procedure to rectify. The doctor in charge mistakenly operated upon the other, healthy testicle, essentially leaving the boy castrated.

That case is still ongoing, but in similar cases compensation amounts of up to £600,000 have previously been awarded.

Another example features a gentleman from Hull whose surgeon operated on the wrong part of his arm, even though the correct area had been marked up. He awoke from the operation to be told “I’m sorry I’ve done the operation wrong” by the surgeon! While the case is ongoing, the compensation amount is likely to be significant.

No matter how many levels of safety are put in place, mistakes still happen and the outcomes from these mistakes can have devastating life-changing effects. In these situations, making a claim for compensation can be the only way to move forward and get on with your life, and so the best course of action is to contact one of our highly experienced solicitors, explain your case to them, and let us make sure you get the compensation that you and your family deserve.

Cases can only be put forward within three years of the event so don’t wait until it’s too late, contact us today.