You go home after surgery at a Chicago hospital, but the pain does not ease. A scan shows that the surgical team left a sponge inside your body. Now you face another operation and more time away from work. You want to know how the team missed it.
This is one example of a “never event,” a serious medical mistake hospitals should prevent. Illinois lists certain events of this kind as adverse health care events. These mistakes may raise doubts about whether the hospital followed its safety procedures.
Which mistakes count as never events?
A bad result does not always mean you experienced a never event. The term covers specific mistakes. If a surgeon operates on the wrong part of your body, Illinois includes the error on its list. The same applies when staff leave a sponge inside you after surgery. Neither mistake requires lasting harm to qualify.
Illinois applies a different rule to blood transfusions. If staff give you blood that does not match your type, the event qualifies when it causes serious injury or death. Without serious harm, that mismatch does not qualify under this category.
When might the hospital be responsible?
During surgery, staff count sponges to make sure none remain inside you. Operation records might show which checks they made and whether anyone noticed a problem. A missed count could also suggest that the hospital did not train or oversee its staff well enough.
Still, a never event does not automatically establish medical negligence. In Illinois, you must show that a care provider failed to meet accepted medical standards and that this failure caused your injury. The hospital could bear responsibility for its own safety failures or for careless treatment by staff working on its behalf.
Understanding what happened
You may want to request your medical records and ask the hospital to explain what happened. Documentation about later treatment and time away from work helps track how the error affected you. Those details could help if you later explore a possible hospital negligence claim.