Surgery can be a frightening prospect. You not only have a problem that needs surgery to fix it, but you are also placing your life in the hands of the doctor, anesthesiologist, and other medical staff. Additionally, you should not have to worry about the health care professionals leaving their tools inside of your body. Sadly, though, this is a very real threat.

Surgeons utilize a number of different tools to perform their task. They use knives, scalpels, pins, needles, forceps, sponges, and other such items to complete a surgical procedure. Thus, with all of these instruments involved, it's almost no surprise that doctors sometimes lose their tools inside of you.

However, this is unacceptable. Tools left in the body after a surgery can cut or poke further into you, causing more damage than the surgeon initially went in to fix. Also, things left inside of you can contribute to infections and other health problems. Instruments are most often left in the abdominal cavity, followed by the thoracic cavity, although there are other ones involved as well.

Additionally, the most commonly left-behind object is a sponge. This is because many sponges are often used in surgery to keep the area clean. Also, sponges can be difficult to find. After a person is closed up, sponges cannot be found on x-rays unless they are a special type of x-ray detectable sponge. The Association of Operating Room Nurses requires that only x-ray detectable sponges be used in surgical procedures, and they must be counted before and after the process. However, this protocol may not always be followed, resulting in instruments left behind.

There are other things that can increase your risk for having a tool left behind in your body. First, if you are overweight or obese, you are more likely to have an instrument retained in your body cavity after the surgery. Also, emergency surgery can up your chances for this medical mistake. Lastly, having an unplanned change in your surgical procedure is a common cause of left-behind sponges and other instruments.

Often, a person will again need surgery to remove the foreign object. Sometimes, it can be months or even years before a problem arises that needs surgical removal. Usually, though, a doctor can detect an instrument left behind by taking an x-ray. However, with sponges, which account for an estimated 52% of objects left behind, it can be difficult to detect if they are inside of you, as mentioned above. Typically, a person will need surgery just so a doctor can go back and look for the missing sponge.

We should reasonably expect our doctors to help us rather than harm us, and not leave their tools inside of us. However, sometimes they fail in their duty to us. If you or someone you know has had a tool left inside of them, you should talk to an attorney about your rights.

For more information regarding medical malpractice and other forms of personal injury law, you should check out the personal injury lawyers at the firm of Habush Habush & Rottier, S.C., today.