BERLIN: In Germany, a lawyer is claiming that surgeons left up to 16 objects in her client's body after a surgical procedure for prostate cancer. A compensation of 80,000 euros (almost N17 million) for the family of the patient, who has died since. Even though costly mistakes in the theatre like these are rare, they do occur.

According to the Chicago-based Loyola University, surgical objects of all kinds are forgotten in about 1,500 patients in the United States annually. In most cases, these include sponges that are used to control bleeding. When forgotten, they can cause infections, pain, a variety of complications and even death. They are known as 'retained surgical items' and there are various steps to prevent such events from occurring. One is making sure that all items and objects used during surgery are counted.

One of the most popular cases of retained items was in March 2009 in the state of Kentucky, US when a woman was awarded a sum of $2.5 million (about N393 million) when a surgery had to be done on her after a sponge was forgotten inside her three years earlier, and a bit of her small intestine had to be removed. She had initially gone for hysterectomy (removal of the womb).

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