BOSTON, April 17 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say wrong-site surgery is extremely rare and major injuries from such errors are even rarer.
The study, supported by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, said the term "wrong-site surgery" includes surgery on the wrong organ or limb, at the wrong site on the spine or on the wrong person.
The researchers, led by Dr. Mary Kwaan of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, estimate a wrong-site surgery serious enough to result in a report to insurance risk managers or in a lawsuit would occur approximately once every 5 to 10 years at a single large hospital.
"The good news is that wrong-site surgery is extremely rare, and major injury from it even less common," said AHRQ Director Dr. Carolyn Clancy. "The less good news is that although site-verification protocols offer some protection against such errors, they are not foolproof. We have a lot more to do to ensure that wrong-site surgery never happens."
The study appears in the April issue of Archives of Surgery.
