Some medical mistakes are so outrageous that the healthcare industry gave them their own name: never events.
These are not rare events. Not ‘unfortunate’ events. These are events that should never happen, meaning there’s no excuse, no acceptable rate, no version of the story that makes such errors okay. And yet, researchers estimate that more than 4000 surgical never events happen every year in the United States.
If one happened to you or someone you love, Kentucky medical malpractice law gives you a way to hold the responsible party accountable.
Defining Never Events in the Medical Industry
The term dates from 2001, when Dr. Ken Kizer of the National Quality Forum needed a label for errors so shockingly wrong that they should never occur. The National Quality Forum standards now define a list of 29 serious reportable events across seven categories.
They include:
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Operating on the wrong patient
- Performing the wrong procedure entirely
- Leaving a sponge, instrument, or other object inside the patient’s body
- Giving a patient the wrong drug, the wrong dose, or someone else’s medication — with deadly or serious results
- Death or serious injury from contaminated drugs or medical devices
- Discharging a newborn or a vulnerable patient to the wrong person
- Serious bedsores that develop after a patient is admitted
- Using the wrong donor sperm or egg during artificial insemination
- Death or serious injury to the mother or baby during a low-risk delivery
These are 10 examples out of 29 reported “never events” that have occurred in the U.S.
It reads like a hospital’s worst nightmare, and they become real-life nightmares for the unfortunate patients who are affected.
Every person who undergoes medical treatment, especially something invasive like surgery, signs a consent form accepting a certain amount of risk. There are no “never events” on that form because none of them is an acceptable risk or outcome.
They represent a failure of the systems designed to protect you.
The Link Between Never Events and Medical Malpractice
A “never event” is about the strongest evidence of medical negligence a patient can have.
No expert will testify that operating on the wrong knee or pulling the wrong tooth meets any standard of care. The breach of duty is baked in.
That still doesn’t make the case automatic. Kentucky law still requires claimants to prove that the preventable error caused specific damages. In other words, medical bills, lost income, and the costs of lasting harm must be linked to the medical mistake. Hospitals know this, so their defense usually attacks causation instead of the error itself:
Yes, the sponge was left inside the patient’s torso, but no, it’s not the reason they’re still in pain.
Expect a fight over documents, too. Hospitals try their best to keep internal peer review files confidential. This is one reason why wrong-site surgery malpractice cases need attorneys who know where else the evidence can be found.
Hospital Accountability and Federal Reporting Requirements
“Never events” are not just lawsuits waiting to happen. They are the sounding of financial and regulatory alarms.
Since 2008, the CMS (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services) has adopted a policy of not paying for never events. Medicare will not reimburse hospitals for the cost of treating injuries caused by these unacceptable errors. Many states and private insurers follow the same standard, essentially saying, “Why should we pay for this?”
The Joint Commission treats such blatant errors as sentinel events in hospitals. They always trigger a mandatory root cause analysis of what went wrong.
The hospital already knows that a “never event” is unforgivable. That means there’s bound to be a paper trail proving it took the event seriously. That internal urgency, and the records it generates, can matter enormously in litigation.
Steps to Take After a Preventable Medical Error
Remember, these mistakes are unforgivable. So, move decisively.
Quickly put everything in writing. Request your complete medical records, including all imaging and operative reports, before memories fade and narratives start to shift and harden. Document your injuries, your symptoms, and how surgical site errors or any other “never event” harm changed your daily life.
And this should go without saying: keep every bill.
Be careful of what you sign afterward. A hospital that knows it has committed a “never event” might offer a fast apology and an even faster release form. Beware of the fine print. And of course, get a legal evaluation of your matter from a firm that handles medical malpractice.
These cases are winnable, but they are not always simple.
“Never” Should Mean Never
Some errors have no defense. A “never event” is the medical industry’s own admission of that. Nevertheless, they’ll still leave patients to carry the damage if they can.
McCoy & Hiestand PLC focuses heavily on medical malpractice cases. We have offices in Louisville and Bardstown, with attorneys who know how hospitals try to defend the indefensible.
If a preventable medical error has turned your life upside down, speak with an attorney to learn your options. The hospital called it a “never event.”
Hold them to that.
