The study looked at a national database of 1,946,831 operations in children over 17 years and found 413 incidents in which sponges or other surgical instruments were unintentionally left in the patient. These incidents occurred in the highest numbers in patients with gynecological surgery, GI surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and orthopedic surgery.
Mortality did not differ between patients who had a foreign body retained and those who did not, according to the report.
Read the Archives of Surgery abstract on pediatric medical errors.
Read more on medical errors:
–California Officials Question Lack of Reported Errors at 20 Percent of State Hospitals
