Wrong-site surgery occurs at CA hospital for second time in 18 months
Accreditation Connection, June 18, 2007
Children's Hospital of Orange County reported its second wrong-site surgery within 18 months on June 12, reports The Orange County Register. The surgery, performed on June 5, was supposed to involve inserting a tube into the patient's right ear. Instead, tubes were inserted into both ears. Doctors removed the tube from the left ear successfully.
The previous wrong-site surgery, performed in January 2006, involved a patient with a brain tumor. Doctors first cut into the wrong side of the patient's head. Doctors later operated on the correct side of the head and removed the tumor.
After the first incident, new procedures were implemented to prevent a wrong-site surgery from occurring again. It was found that doctors did not take a "time out" prior to surgery and also did not mark the patient's skull appropriately. The new procedures included marking the site of the surgery in front of a patient's family member and not allowing surgical instruments in the operating room prior to the surgeons entering.
It has not been determined if these newer procedures will be changed in light of the latest wrong-site surgery. To read more, click here.
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