Surgery Gone Wrong

In this medical video learn how some things are supposed to be in the body, and some aren't! This man almost died from surgery gone wrong. Find out what doctors are doing to keep it from happening to you.

Jennifer Matthews: Last year, Lenny LeClair went to the hospital for routine surgery. But he left the operating room much worse than he came in. Lenny LeClair: I never stopped throwing up. Jennifer Matthews: LeClair lost 100 pounds. Lenny LeClair: I thought I was dying. I felt like I was dying. Jennifer Matthews: When doctors realized what was wrong, Lenny was almost dead. It turned out they left behind a gauze sponge that had pierced his colon. Sponges and instruments can get left behind during surgery because they're often covered in blood and hard to spot. And hospital staff sometimes miscounts, easy to do in emergency situations where seconds matter. Alex Macario: Basically, the counting procedure for instruments and sponges is the same as it was 40 years ago. We're trying to use 21st century technology to help people keep track of supplies in the operating room. Jennifer Matthews: That technology is radio frequency ID tags. In a new study, doctors attached them surgical sponges and then waved a wand over a patient after surgery. 100 percent of the time it alerted the doctor if the sponge was left. Alex Macario: What we're interested in now is how to make it more foolproof so that it's not dependent on the personnel in the operating room to do the scan correctly every time on every patient. Jennifer Matthews: And once doctors do that, they hope they can keep what happened to Lenny from every happening to you. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.