It’s 2019, and you expect that when you go through surgery, the advances in medical technology will make sure that your surgery succeeds. More than likely, your surgeon fixed the problem for which you needed the operation, but for some reason, you just aren’t getting better.

In fact, your pain could increase to the point it becomes a threat to your life. What’s going on? The sad reality is that your surgeon and his or her team may have left something in your body, and now, you must undergo one or more additional surgeries to remove the object and repair any damage it caused. You may be surprised at what doctors have discovered inside people’s bodies.

What types of objects do surgeons leave behind?

Unfortunately, far too many people must strongly advocate for themselves when it comes to determining that an object remained in their bodies after surgery. You may have experienced this since your doctor may have assumed that you contracted an infection, gave you some antibiotics and painkillers, and sent you home. Only when your pain failed to resolve did doctors look further and discovered one or more of the following objects left in your body after surgery:

  • Believe it or not, doctors have found surgical towels in patients even years after surgery.
  • Wires used to guide surgical instruments that are not part of a surgical repair could remain in your body.
  • Somehow, surgical gloves have ended up remaining in patients’ bodies.
  • You may have heard about surgical sponges that surgeons failed to account for at the end of a procedure, remaining in someone’s body.
  • Doctors have found needles left in people’s bodies.
  • It may surprise you to know that surgical instruments such as scissors remained in some patients after surgery.
  • A scalpel is yet another surgical instrument found inside patients.
  • Other instruments found inside patients’ bodies include retractors and clamps.

As if these circumstances weren’t disturbing enough, one man who underwent surgery in 2009 had no less than 16 foreign objects left inside his body by his surgeon. This particular situation is obviously quite rare, but, apparently, it can happen. All of these foreign objects cause pain, discomfort and other potential complications, including death.

If it turns out that your surgeon left a foreign object inside you after surgery, and you suffered significant harm because of it, you may understandably want to hold the responsible individual or individuals liable. You may have the chance to do so through the filing of a medical malpractice claim, seeking the compensation you deserve.