Wrong-site surgery, operating on the wrong body part, the wrong side, the wrong patient, or performing the wrong procedure, is classified among the never events in patient safety: serious, largely preventable incidents that should not occur if recognized safety processes are followed. Surgical safety checklists and site-marking protocols exist specifically to prevent them.
In litigation these cases are distinctive because the error is so clear that liability is often difficult to defend, and the focus shifts to how the failure occurred and to the resulting harm and damages. The standard of care and the role of the surgical safety checklist are matters of expert evidence, and the breakdown usually implicates institutional systems and team communication as well as individual conduct, raising both direct hospital liability and the responsibility of the practitioners involved.
Posts tagged Wrong-site Surgery analyze Ontario decisions involving wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgical errors.
Most surgical errors are addressed through civil litigation and professional discipline. In rare cases, criminal liability can follow. An honest look at the threshold.
A patient’s guide to surgical malpractice in Ontario. The three phases of care, the evidentiary challenges, and what it takes to prove a viable claim.
Free, confidential consultations. Paul reviews every potential case personally and tells you honestly whether it merits investigation.