The National Quality Forum is a non-profit organization that aims to improve the quality of healthcare for all americans.
The forum aims to do that through pursuit of three seperate missions:

• Setting national priorities and goals for performance improvement;
• Endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance; and
• Promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.

NQF’s membership consists of a wide variety of healthcare stakeholders: consumer oraganizations, public and private purchasers, nurses, physicians, hospitals, healthcare researchers, and quality improvement organizations.

The NQF has recently published a list of 27 “never events” in healthcare. “Never Events“ refer to events that, rightly, should never happen. Most of the events on the list would happen when a patient is being cared for at a healthcare facility, and constitue as medical malpractice and negligence or nursing home abuse.
A few of the events could happen within a patient’s home. Below is a list of the NQF’s 27 “Never Events.”

1. Surgery performed on the wrong body part
2. Surgery performed on the wrong patient
3. Performing the wrong surgical procedure on a patient  (conducive to symptoms)
4. Retention of a foreign object ina  patient after surgery or other procedure
5. Intraoperative or immediately post-operative death in a normal, healthy patient.
6. Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices, or biologics provided by the healthcare facility.
7. Patient death or serious disability associated with the use or function of a device in patient care in which the device is used or functions other than as intended.
8. Patient death or serious disability associated with intravascular air embolism that occurd while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
9. Infant discharged to the wrong person.
10. Patient death ot serious disability associated with the partient disappearance for more than four hours.
11. Patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error.
12. Patient suicide or attempted suicide resulting in serious disability, while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
13. Patient death or serious disability associated with a hemolytic reaction due to transfusion of the wrong blood type.
14. Maternal death or serious disability associated with a medication error.
15. Patient death or serious disability associated with hypoglycemia, the onset of which occurs while the patient is being cared for in a healthcare facility.
16. Death or serious disabilty associated with the failure to identify and treat jaundice in newborns.
17. Stage 3 or 4 bedsores or pressure sores acquired after admission to a healthcare facility.
18. Patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulatice therapy.
19. Patient death or serious disability associated with an electric shock while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
20. Any incident in which a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be delivered to a patient contains the wrong gas or is contaminated by toxic substances.
21. Patient death or serious disability associated with a burn incurred from any source while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
22. Patient death associated with a fall while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
23. Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of restraints or bedrails while being cared for in a healthcare facility.
24. Any instance of care ordered by or provided by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or other licensed healthcare provider.
25. Abduction of a patient at any age.
26. Sexual assault of  a patient within or on the grounds of a healthcare facility.
27. Death or significant injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of a healthcare facility.

Medical Malpractice or Nursing Home Abuse in NJ or PA?

These “never events” are sure instances of medical malpractice, and in some cases, nursing home abuse. If you or a loved one have experienced any of the events on the list, you should contact a NJ Medical Malpractice or Nursing Home Abuse attorney.

The team at the Mininno Law Office is ready to help you get the compensation you deserve. For a free case evaluation, contact the Mininno Law Office. Or simply call at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.