A California woman is suing a hospital alleging that an 8-inch long forceps device was left inside her following a surgical procedure.
According to King5.com, a Seattle television station, the lawsuit claims the woman had to have 18-inches of her small intestine removed following the alleged medical malpractice.
The woman allegedly went in to have a tumor removed from her abdomen and after the procedure she began to experience severe pain. It was later discovered during an ER visit that forceps were left inside of her.
The network reported that out of about 28.4 million inpatient surgeries performed annually in the United States, there were 1,500 cases where foreign objects are left after surgery. This stat comes from a study done in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Often these situations are described as “never events” in the medical community, as they are entirely preventable and there are often measures in place that are supposed to lower their risk of occurrence.
The plaintiff is allegedly in settlement discussions with the hospital. Although this lawsuit does not involve child birth, we thought it was important to share because it involved forceps.
Medical Malpractice Injuries Involving Forceps
According to the Mayo Clinic, possible risks to forceps use during child birth include:
- Facial injuries due to the pressure
- Temporary weakness in the facial muscles
- Minor external eye trauma
- Skull fracture
- Bleeding within the skull
- Seizures
- Brain injury
Many of these injuries occur because of the use of unnecessary force by a healthcare provider or doctor. It should be noted that a lawsuit could help you pay for future healthcare costs, if you are injured as a result of medical malpractice.
If your child suffered a brain injury due to the negligence of a healthcare provider or you have been injured during a surgical procedure, our Ryan Krebs, M.D., J.D., is uniquely qualified to handle medical malpractice cases.
Contact our Central Texas medical malpractice attorneys at the phone numbers located on this page.
