Good news! When it comes to surgeons leaving random crap in your body after they've sewn you up, the United States has the lowest rate among all rich nations.¹ We're #1!
¹All the rich nations that happen to be part of the Peterson-KFF health system tracker, anyway.
I would question reporting accuracy. Someone has to be number one, but in this case the gap between number one and number two is so large as to be extremely suspicious.
It depends. If there was a sudden drop in reported incidents, then it would be suspicious, but if there's some sort of long-term trend where incidents in the US gradually dropped over the past 10 years or so, then it's unlikely to be a reporting error.
My impression is that surgeons in the UK are overworked and/or understaffed, which would make such errors more likely. FWIW, my brother had a piece of surgical equipment left in his tibia during surgery to remove a pin that had been implanted to treat a spiral fracture, but that was because the equipment broke during the operation, and they couldn't retrieve it without making things worse. So, the incident was an accident, but the stuff left behind was sort of on purpose.
There doesn't have to have been a change if different countries have different reporting criteria, or just different rates of surgical team honesty.
US medical school training is significantly longer and more rigorous than most other countries. In some countries, bigger ones than you would expect, you can go from high school directly into medical school for six years and then be a practicing doctor.
But probably? Business consultants have fully absorbed that notion that nothing should be done without a checklist, either to tick off, or to be filled in, or both. Strong checklist adherents are airline pilots and maintenance, and operating room personnel. In fact, in those cases, it is a legal requirement. The further you are from the US, the less business consultant is a thing.
Well, goodness, what welcome news. That stuff is expensive.
One of my uncles was one of the statistics. He was being treated for cancer when a sponge waa left in his abdomen. He died of peritonitis. As I recall, it was a VA hospital in Texas
I hope that there is better accounting for items used in surgery. now. There doesn't seem to be any valid excuse for such incidents, except perhaps in battlefield circumstances.
Thank a medical malpractice lawyer.
Exactly. It is amazing what the threat of med malpractice suit will do to guide behavior.