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Study
Insurance claims for wrong-side, wrong-organ, wrong-procedure, or wrong-person surgical errors: a retrospective study for 10 years.
February 8, 2023
Vacheron C-H, Acker A, Autran M, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;19(1):e13-e17.
Wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient errors (WSPEs) are serious adverse events. This retrospective analysis of medical liability claims data examined the incidence of WSPEs in France between 2007 and 2017. During this ten-year period, WSPEs accounted for 0.4% of all claims. Procedures on the wrong organ were most common (44%), followed by wrong side (39%), wrong person (13%) and wrong procedure (4%). The researchers found that the average number of WSPEs decreased after implementation of a surgical checklist.
