Wrong leg operated at Fortis Hospital – Medical Error

Wrong Site Surgery – Sentinel Event – A Preventable Medical Error

• Surgical Adverse events (Sentinel Event) is one of the most devastating out of all preventable medical error. It gives both mental and physical stress to the patient therefore increasing his/her ailment.
• WSS is defined as a sentinel event (i.e., an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injures, or the risk thereof) by the Joint Commission (formerly called the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), which found WSSs to be the third-highest-ranking event.
• To improve patient safety and reduce such medical error, JCI has published guidelines for Patient Safety, surgical safety is one of the goal in that.
• In the current case, Fortis hospital is a NABH accredited hospital, which must mean that all kinds of patient safety protocols should already be adopted by the staff.
• In implementation of quality improvement protocols and patient safety goals, training and continuous training of the medical and paramedical staff.

 

The NEWS

(Source: The Hindu)

In a shocking incident of medical negligence, doctors at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, on Tuesday, wrongly operated 24-year-old Ravi Rai’s left leg, when the injury was on the right one.

The incident happened after Mr. Rai fractured his right leg as he fell down from stairs. His family rushed him to Fortis Hospital where doctors suggest a number of tests including — a CT-scan and X-Ray. They suggested that his condition was serious and that an immediate surgery would have to be performed.

On the doctor’s advice, Mr. Rai agreed for the surgery but to the family’s horror, his left leg which was perfectly fine was operated. The family called the police and registered an FIR against the hospital.

Meanwhile, hospital authorities on Wednesday said the matter was being investigated. A statement released by the hospital noted: “Patient safety is of paramount importance to us. We are deeply concerned and are looking into the matter and will take appropriate action as deemed necessary.”