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July 29, 2013

Hospitals report fewer 'never-ever' events

A new state report of what should be “never-ever” events in Maine’s hospitals said that in 2012 two people had the wrong body parts operated on, 14 patients had something left inside of them after surgery and 36 died in a hospital setting of conditions they weren’t expected to die from.

According to the Sun Journal, the 2012 results are better than the previous year, when there were 61 unanticipated deaths, 16 incidents of something being left behind after surgery and two incidents of wrong parts being operated on by surgeons.

Compiled by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the annual report on “sentinel events” is delivered each spring to the Legislature. It tracks errors, serious injuries and accidents in the state’s hospitals, surgery centers, kidney centers and intermediate-care facilities. Maine is one of 28 states that track these figures, the newspaper reported.

The purpose of keeping tabs on the errors is to encourage health care institutions to analyze how and why the errors occurred and take steps to keep them from happening again.

In 2012, according to the Sun Journal, 146 sentinel events were reported, with the top five being: unanticipated deaths (36), deaths or serious injury from falls (26), unanticipated transfers (24), pressure ulcers (15) and retained foreign objects (14).

All 41 hospitals in the state are required to participate in the program.

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