Sharp fined for almost removing wrong testicle--but the reporting system is voluntary for hospitals; most mistakes are covered-up

Shockingly, the 109 wrong site surgeries reported in 2012 were a "small proportion of actual events" according to the Joint Commission, which relies on hospitals to voluntarily report mistakes.

I am impressed that the Joint Commission would admit that hospitals cover-up a lot of mishaps. And I'm not surprised that the problem is increasing, since there is so little accountability. I imagine Sharp preferred to report a case of ALMOST removing the wrong testicle than to report cases where organs were mistakenly removed. In the more serious cases, the hospitals most likely pay a settlement to patients in exchange for a promise of silence.

Sharp fined for almost removing wrong testicle
State report says surgical team failed to follow procedure
By Paul Sisson
SDUT
Aug. 15, 2013

In a written response to the state, Sharp stated that it conducted mandatory training of all operating room staff after the incident and conducted 70 randomly selected audits of procedures per month to make sure that surgical sites were being properly marked. Those audits, Sharp said, resulted in a 100 percent compliance rate.

Wrong-site surgeries have been a topic of focus in the health care industry for more than a decade. Despite that focus, data suggest that the mistakes have increased over time.

According to The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals nationwide, 67 wrong-site surgeries were reported to the agency in 2002 and 109 were reported in 2012. That number is down significantly from 152 in 2011. The commission cautions that those numbers represent only the cases voluntarily reported and represent a “small proportion of actual events.”

In a written response to the state, Sharp stated that it conducted mandatory training of all operating room staff after the incident and conducted 70 randomly selected audits of procedures per month to make sure that surgical sites were being properly marked. Those audits, Sharp said, resulted in a 100 percent compliance rate.

Wrong-site surgeries have been a topic of focus in the health care industry for more than a decade. Despite that focus, data suggest that the mistakes have increased over time.

According to The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals nationwide, 67 wrong-site surgeries were reported to the agency in 2002 and 109 were reported in 2012. That number is down significantly from 152 in 2011.

The commission cautions that those numbers represent only the cases voluntarily reported and represent a “small proportion of actual events.”