Surgical Errors

Some procedures performed by anesthesiologists in New Mexico require placement of a unilateral nerve block for surgeries that involve a right or left side. In this situation, there is a potential for needle placement and surgery at the wrong location. Protocols that...

Thousands of people in New Mexico seek care in the emergency rooms of their local hospitals every year. When people have to go to the E.R., they do so believing that the treatment that they receive will help them to recover from their injuries or illnesses....

New Mexican surgery patients may not always know if something goes wrong in surgery. A survey of more than 60 surgeons working for Veterans Affairs centers revealed that only 55 percent of surgeons reported that they had issued an apology for a preventable surgical...

New Mexico residents might be aware that medical mishaps are an unfortunate reality, but they may be shocked to learn about some particularly disturbing recent examples of medical malpractice. The prospect of undergoing some sort of surgical procedure without the...

The mother of a Miami woman who suffered brain damage during plastic surgery is speaking out to warn others about the potential dangers of elective procedures. Her story is a reminder that people in New Mexico and nationwide should always check the performance record...

According to a study published in the journal BMJ in May, medical errors may be the third leading cause of death in the country. New Mexico patients who are hospitalized for surgery can take steps to protect themselves from these types of errors. First, it is...

A new development may be of interest to residents of New Mexico. A recent study found that a supervised autonomous robot performed soft-tissue surgery better than its' human counterpart. The researchers, all surgeons at Children's National Medical Center, used the...

New Mexico residents may have heard reports about how surgeons are leaving surgical instruments in patients during surgical procedures. In fact, these types of accidents transpire about once per 5,500 surgeries. One of the most common objects that surgeons...

A New Mexico patient who is harmed by a medical error might not hear an apology after the fact. Although many states have legislation in place to allow a professional to apologize without the act being considered as evidence in a malpractice case, New Mexico lacks...

When New Mexico parents take their infants to the hospital for basic checkups, they expect doctors and health care staff to only perform procedures that are part of the normal checkup process. One Tennessee family, however, had their newborn mistaken for another...