What Are “Never Events?”

The phrase “Never Event” was first presented by Doctor Ken Kizer, a former National Quality Forum CEO. The term was introduced to describe some medical errors that simply should never ever occur. The list of events that should never happen has expanded over time to cover a range of medical actions and inactions.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, there are now seven categories or medical mistakes that should never happen:

Surgical events

• Performing surgery on the wrong body part
• Performing a surgery on the wrong patient
• Using the wrong invasive procedure on a patient
• Leaving a foreign object in a patient after a surgery or other procedure
• “Intraoperative or immediately postoperative/post-procedure death in an American Society of Anesthesiologists Class I patient”

Product or device events

• Using contaminated drugs, devices, or biologicals that cause serious injury or death
• Using medical devices other than as intended which cause serious injury or death
• Intravascular air embolism in a health care environment that causes serious injury or death

Events to protect a patient

• Releasing or discharging a patient/resident who can’t make decisions to an unauthorized person
• Patient elopement (disappearance) which causes serious disability or death
• Patients try to harm themselves, try suicide, or commit suicide while in a health care facility

Case management never events

• Medication errors due to the wrong dosage, wrong drug, incorrect patient, wrong preparation, wrong administration route, or wrong time – that cause serious injury or the death of a patient
• Unsafely administering blood products that cause serious injury or patient death
• An infant who dies or suffers serious injury during the delivery or labor when the pregnancy is low-risk
• “Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or wrong egg”
• Falls in health care settings that cause serious injury or death
• “Any stage 3, stage 4, or unstageable pressure ulcers acquired after admission/presentation to a health care facility”
• The “irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen” that causes serious disability or death
• Failure to follow up on pathology, lab, or radiology results that cause serious disability or the death of a patient

Environmental events

A patient death or staff death in a health care setting:

• Due to an electric shock
• Due to the wrong gas, no gas, or a toxic substance being delivered/not delivered to a patient who needs oxygen
• Burns from any source
• Due to the use or misuse of bedrails or restraints

Radiologic events

The main never event is the “introduction of a metallic object into the MRI area,” which causes serious injury or death of a patient.

Criminal events

• Any care by someone impersonating a doctor or health licensed health care provide
• “Abduction of a patient/resident of any age”
• A sexual assault or sexual abuse of a patient on the health care grounds
• A physical assault which seriously injures or kills a patient or staff member

These acts of medical malpractice often result in deaths or serious injuries. Generally, never events must be reported to local offices such as the Arkansas Department of Health.

At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, our Little Rock medical malpractice attorneys work with a team of medical professionals to determine when a doctor’s negligence has caused a death, a disability, or a serious injury. When medical events occur that should never happen, we often add a claim for punitive damages. For help with any medical malpractice claim, call our experienced lawyers at 501-213-1512 or fill out our contact form to make an appointment.

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