Objects left in patients, wrong operation, wrong patient and other 'Never' errors

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Between September 1990 and September 2010, new research in the journal Surgery found evidence of 9,744 paid malpractice claims for never events. These events are dangerous: When the researchers analyzed a smaller cohort of data, from 2004 through 2010, they found that 6.6 percent of patients experiencing a never event subsequently died. "Although the data we utilized captured surgical never events resulting in malpractice claims, many do not reach legal process and are then only voluntarily disclosed, with little coordination among reporting bodies," he writes in the Surgery article. Younger doctors also had higher odds of settling malpractice claims for never events.