Retained Surgical Item Claim in Ireland: What to Do if a Foreign Object Was Left in Your Body
Author: Gary Matthews, Principal Solicitor, Law Society of Ireland PC No. S8178 ·
3rd Floor, Ormond Building, 31-36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin D07 · 01 903 6408 ·A retained surgical item is a foreign object left inside your body after surgery. Irish law classifies this as a Never Event. You typically have two years from discovery to claim.
Under the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, hospitals must now disclose these incidents to patients. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Irish healthcare authorities classify retained items as Never Events, meaning they should not happen when standard safety protocols are followed. The two-year limitation period runs from the date you discovered (or should have discovered) the retained object, not from the surgery date.
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different and outcomes vary. Consult a qualified solicitor for advice specific to your situation.
Quick answers: Retained item = Never Event. Hospital must disclose under Patient Safety Act 2023 (commenced 26 Sep 2024). Claims bypass IRB. Two-year limit from date of knowledge. Res ipsa loquitur shifts burden onto hospital.
Contents
What is a retained surgical item?
A retained surgical item (sometimes called a retained foreign object or RSI) is any instrument, sponge, needle, or device fragment left inside a patient's body cavity after a surgical procedure. Under Irish law, this constitutes a clear breach of the standard of care expected of a competent surgical team. The HSE National Policy and Procedure for Safe Surgery requires a documented count of all instruments before and after every operation. A mismatch that goes undetected is a systemic failure.
The term covers everything from gauze and swabs to clamps, needles, and broken catheter fragments. Unlike in England and Wales, where NHS Trusts apply a separate "Never Events" framework, Irish hospitals report these incidents through the State Claims Agency and must now also notify HIQA under the Patient Safety Act 2023.
Why is this classified as a Never Event in Ireland?
The HSE and international patient-safety bodies classify retained surgical items as "Never Events" because well-established counting protocols exist to prevent them entirely. The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, adopted by the HSE in its 2022 Safe Surgery policy, mandates three distinct verification phases during every operation: Sign In (before anaesthesia), Time Out (before incision), and Sign Out (during wound closure). A retained item almost always represents a breakdown during Sign Out, where the final instrument reconciliation count should catch any missing object.
The 2024 State Claims Agency annual report recorded €210.5 million in clinical negligence damages, with an outstanding liability exceeding €5.35 billion across the Irish health system, according to the NTMA Annual Report 2024. Surgical errors, including retained items, remain a significant driver of high-severity claims. Historically, 821 objects were reported left behind over a single three-year period, and HSE figures recorded 267 retained items between 2005 and 2011.
Common types of foreign objects left after surgery
| Category | Examples | Risk factor |
|---|---|---|
| Soft absorbent materials | Laparotomy sponges, surgical swabs, gauze packs | Once blood-soaked, they blend with surrounding tissue and are the most commonly retained items |
| Sharp instruments | Suture needles, scalpel blades, guide wires, drill bits | Small size makes them easy to lose track of in deep surgical cavities |
| Clamping and hardware | Surgical clamps, forceps, retractors | Often left behind during emergency procedures when speed overrides counting |
| Device fragments | Broken catheter tips, drain tubes, keyhole camera parts | Equipment failure during laparoscopic surgery can leave fragments behind |
| Closure materials | Surgical staples, synthetic suture thread | May be left unintentionally when not removed during post-operative follow-up |
Gossypiboma: two body responses and why imaging gets it wrong
A retained sponge triggers one of two pathological responses. The first is an exudative reaction: the body treats the sponge as an infection source, leading to abscess formation, fistula, bowel perforation, or sepsis. Symptoms tend to appear within days or weeks. The second is an aseptic fibrous reaction: the body encapsulates the sponge in a dense granuloma. Symptoms may not appear for months or years, and the mass is frequently mistaken for a tumour on imaging.
On CT, a gossypiboma typically shows a "spongiform pattern" with trapped gas bubbles and a barium sulfate radiopaque marker (a wavy, high-density line woven into surgical sponges for detection purposes). Over time, a "calcified reticulate rind sign" can develop around the encapsulated sponge. On MRI, gossypibomas appear as a low-signal mass on T1-weighted imaging with high signal intensity in the core on T2. A systematic review published by Wan et al. in Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology found an average discovery time of 6.9 years from surgery to diagnosis, with a median of 2.2 years and one case remaining undetected for over two decades.
The legal significance is direct: if the gossypiboma was misdiagnosed as a tumour and the patient underwent unnecessary biopsy, further surgery, or chemotherapy workup, every additional procedure forms part of the harm. Your solicitor can claim damages for the original retention, the misdiagnosis, and each consequential procedure. Which pathological response occurred also shapes the date-of-knowledge argument for time limits.
What symptoms may signal a retained foreign object?
Patients who have a foreign object left inside them after surgery often experience persistent or worsening pain at the surgical site that doesn't resolve as expected. Other warning signs include unexplained fever and chills (suggesting infection), severe swelling that doesn't improve, digestive problems like nausea, vomiting, or bowel obstruction, and profound fatigue that seems disproportionate to the procedure performed.
A detail that catches many claimants off guard: these symptoms can appear weeks, months, or even years after the original surgery. A patient may suffer from recurring abdominal infections without anyone connecting them to a retained sponge from a procedure years earlier. The delay between surgery and symptom onset is precisely why the "date of knowledge" rule (explained below) is so important for time limits in Ireland. At this point, the critical question becomes whether the hospital's safety checklist caught the discrepancy or missed it entirely.
How does the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist fail?
The HSE's Safe Surgery policy mandates that every surgical team completes a three-phase verification based on the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. During the "Sign Out" phase, the scrub nurse and surgeon must perform an audible, documented reconciliation of every instrument, sharp, and sponge used. The final count must match the baseline count taken before surgery began.
Peer-reviewed research published in Frontiers in Medicine (2025) identifies recurring human factors behind checklist failures. Emergency operations where speed is prioritised over counting, prolonged procedures with large instrument sets, shift changes where count data is lost during handover, and high patient BMI reducing visibility within the surgical cavity all contribute. Even documented "correct" counts sometimes fail due to cognitive fatigue or simple mathematical error by the team.
This is the Three-Phase Failure Trace. When building a retained item claim, your solicitor can map the specific phase of the WHO checklist that broke down and tie it to the HSE's own mandatory policy. If the hospital cannot produce a complete, reconciled checklist during legal discovery, that gap becomes powerful evidence of systemic failure.
Adjunct detection technology and the standard of care
Manual counting alone has a known failure rate. Research reviewed by AHRQ's Patient Safety Network shows that 88% of retained surgical items occur when the count is reported as correct. Radiofrequency (RF) detection systems now exist (devices like the Medtronic Situate and STERIS ORLocate) that embed micro RF tags in sponges and use a handheld scanning wand to confirm no tagged item remains inside the patient before wound closure. A prospective trial of 2,285 patients at a US trauma centre found that RF scanning detected a near-miss event that manual counting missed entirely.
In Ireland, whether a hospital adopted or failed to adopt available adjunct counting technology is directly relevant to the breach-of-duty argument. If peer-reviewed evidence supports RF scanning as a safety improvement and the hospital chose not to use it, your solicitor can argue the standard of care required it, particularly in high-risk procedures (emergency surgery, high BMI patients, prolonged operations with large instrument sets). During discovery, your solicitor should ask whether the hospital uses any adjunct detection technology and, if not, why not.
How do you prove negligence in a retained item claim in Ireland?
The Dunne principles
Irish medical negligence claims are assessed against the standard set by the Supreme Court in Dunne v National Maternity Hospital [1989]. The Dunne test asks whether the practitioner was guilty of a failure that no medical professional of equal standing, exercising ordinary care, would have committed. In many medical negligence disputes, proving a breach under Dunne requires competing expert opinions about acceptable clinical practice.
Retained item cases cut through that complexity. Leaving a clamp or sponge inside a patient is so far outside the bounds of ordinary surgical care that it inherently fails the Dunne test. No competent surgical team following standard procedures would leave an instrument behind.
Res ipsa loquitur shifts the burden
Because the failure is so obvious, retained item claims frequently invoke the legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself). A patient under general anaesthesia is entirely in the surgical team's control and cannot contribute to the error. The very presence of the object inside the patient is sufficient to raise a presumption of negligence.
The Supreme Court confirmed in Lindsay (a Minor) v Mid-Western Health Board that while res ipsa loquitur does not impose strict liability, it does require the defendant hospital to present concrete evidence of proper care to rebut the inference of negligence. The practical effect is significant: instead of you proving which specific team member failed, the hospital must prove it wasn't negligent. Given the strict documentation requirements of the WHO checklist, rebutting that presumption is extremely difficult. The next step is understanding how the Patient Safety Act 2023 strengthens your position even further.
Key Irish case law
Lindsay (a Minor) v Mid-Western Health Board
Holding: The Supreme Court held that res ipsa loquitur applies in medical negligence where the patient was unconscious and under exclusive control of the surgical team. The defendant must produce concrete evidence to rebut the presumption of negligence.
Why it matters: Directly supports retained item claims. The hospital cannot simply deny negligence. It must prove its safety procedures were followed.
Source: Courts Service of Ireland
Doherty v Reynolds & Anor [2004]
Holding: The Supreme Court applied res ipsa loquitur where a patient suffered injury during surgery while under general anaesthetic. Staff had no actual recollection of the plaintiff's care, and the court noted the hospital's record-keeping was "singularly inadequate." The evidential burden fell on the hospital to demonstrate it had exercised all reasonable care.
Why it matters: You don't need to identify which nurse or surgeon failed. Where staff cannot recall or document what occurred, the hospital faces a heavy evidential burden under res ipsa loquitur.
Source: Courts Service of Ireland
What are your rights under the Patient Safety Act 2023?
The Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 commenced on 26 September 2024 and represents the most significant change to patient rights in Irish medical negligence in years. Schedule 1 of the Act lists 13 specific "notifiable incidents." The unintended retention of a foreign object after surgery resulting in death or serious harm is explicitly included in the Patient Safety Act 2023.
Under the Act, hospitals must tell you (or your family) that a notifiable incident occurred. They must also report it externally to HIQA within seven days through the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Failure to disclose without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence carrying a Class A fine of up to €5,000 under Section 77 of the Act.
Open disclosure does not equal liability. Section 10 of the Patient Safety Act 2023 creates a specific statutory protection: information provided during an open disclosure meeting, including any apology or expression of regret, is not admissible as evidence of fault or liability in court proceedings and does not constitute an admission of fault. A hospital saying "we found a retained sponge and we're sorry this happened" cannot be cited as a legal admission of negligence.
What this means in practice: The protection covers what is said at the disclosure meeting itself. It does not prevent your solicitor from obtaining the same underlying facts through other channels. The surgical count sheet, theatre log, NIMS report, and risk management investigation remain fully discoverable via DSAR and court discovery. In practice, hospitals are coached to limit the detail shared during disclosure meetings. Your solicitor should obtain a written copy of the disclosure record, then separately secure the underlying clinical records to build the evidential case independently of the protected disclosure.
One aspect the official guidance doesn't cover: the Act doesn't replace your right to request your full medical records under GDPR. Data Subject Access Requests for surgical count sheets and theatre logs remain an essential first step, regardless of whether the hospital has initiated open disclosure.
If the hospital has already disclosed the incident: The disclosure confirms what happened, but you still need an independent expert report. Instruct a solicitor to secure your records and commission one.
If the hospital hasn't disclosed but you suspect a retained object: Request your records via DSAR. If imaging confirms a foreign object, the hospital's failure to disclose may itself be a breach of the Act (carrying a Class A fine).
What is the time limit for a retained surgical item claim in Ireland?
Under the Statute of Limitations 1957 (as amended), you generally have two years less one day from the "date of knowledge" to initiate proceedings. Unlike in England and Wales, where the limitation period is three years under the Limitation Act 1980, Ireland's shorter window makes early action essential.
The "date of knowledge" rule is especially relevant for retained item claims. A patient may not discover a retained sponge until months or years after surgery, typically through a follow-up scan, an unrelated imaging study, or emergency exploratory surgery. The two-year clock starts from the date you first knew (or reasonably should have known) that a foreign object was left inside you and caused you harm.
If the object is found during a follow-up scan 18 months after surgery: Your two-year deadline runs from the scan date, not the original operation.
If you've had unexplained symptoms for years but no diagnosis yet: The clock may not have started, but courts will assess whether you should reasonably have sought investigation sooner. Don't wait.
If the patient is under 18: The two-year period is paused and only begins on their 18th birthday.
The timing matters: if there's any doubt about when your two-year window started, get legal advice immediately. A solicitor can assess whether the limitation period has expired or whether the date-of-knowledge argument extends your deadline.
Realistic claim timeline: stage by stage in Ireland
Here's what the process typically looks like from first step to resolution:
| Stage | Typical duration | Key notes |
|---|---|---|
| DSAR submission and hospital response | 1 month (statutory) | Hospitals can extend by two months for complex requests but must notify you |
| Independent medical expert report | 8 to 16 weeks | Specialist availability varies. Surgical negligence experts are in high demand in Ireland |
| Section 8 letter of claim to defendant | 1 month (statutory notice) | Plaintiff's obligation under the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004. Failure without reasonable cause can result in adverse cost inferences |
| Proceedings issued and discovery | 6 to 12 months | Exchange of documents. Your solicitor requests theatre records, count sheets, and incident reports |
| Mediation or settlement attempt | 3 to 6 months | 43% of clinical claims resolved with payment in 2024 involved mediation (SCA data) |
| Trial listing (if mediation fails) | 12 to 24 months | High Court waiting times vary. Complex medical negligence cases can take longer |
End to end, the State Claims Agency reports that clinical negligence claims in Ireland take an average of 1,462 days (roughly four years) to resolve. Straightforward retained item cases with clear liability (correct count sheet missing, imaging confirms the object) may settle earlier. Cases involving gossypiboma misdiagnosis or disputed causation will sit at the longer end.
Does a retained surgical item claim go through the Injuries Resolution Board?
No. Under Section 3(3) of the PIAB Act 2003, claims arising from medical advice, treatment, or surgical procedures are excluded from the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB), formerly known as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) until 2023. You do NOT need to submit an IRB application before going to court.
A retained item claim is NOT the same as a car accident or workplace injury claim, where the IRB must first assess the case. Medical negligence claims, including retained item cases, go directly to the courts through a specialist solicitor. The complexity of establishing breach, causation, and quantum through expert medical evidence makes these cases unsuitable for the IRB's administrative assessment process.
How is compensation calculated for a retained surgical item?
| Damage type | What it covers | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| General damages (pain and suffering) | Non-financial impact: physical pain, emotional trauma, loss of quality of life | Pain from infection or corrective surgery, diagnosed PTSD or anxiety, loss of ability to work or exercise |
| Special damages (financial losses) | Quantifiable out-of-pocket costs caused by the retained item | Lost earnings, cost of corrective surgery, travel to medical appointments, long-term care needs, home adaptations |
General damages are assessed with reference to the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021), which replaced the older Book of Quantum. Awards vary significantly case by case and depend on the severity of harm, the duration of suffering, and the prognosis. Any figures must be treated as indicative only.
Between assessment and settlement, the sticking point is usually the cost of future care. If a retained item caused lasting damage (chronic pain, reduced organ function, fertility complications from an obstetric procedure), future loss projections drive the quantum far beyond the initial corrective surgery costs. An experienced medical negligence solicitor will commission actuarial evidence alongside the medical reports.
If the retained item was removed quickly with no lasting harm: General damages may be modest, focused on pain, distress, and the corrective procedure itself.
If the item caused infection, sepsis, or organ damage: General and special damages increase substantially. Future care costs and lost earnings become major components.
If fertility was affected (e.g., retained swab after Caesarean section): Awards reflect the profound personal impact, and courts in Ireland have recognised this as a distinct and serious head of damage.
Critical details in retained item claims
The Three-Phase Failure Trace matters in court. The HSE's own Safe Surgery policy (2022) makes Sign In / Time Out / Sign Out compliance mandatory and auditable. When a hospital can't produce a complete Sign Out reconciliation record, it's not just an administrative gap. It's documentary evidence of the precise systemic failure that caused the harm. Your solicitor should request this specific document during discovery.
Gossypiboma misdiagnosis compounds the claim. A retained sponge that forms a gossypiboma may be misidentified as a tumour on CT or MRI imaging. If a patient undergoes unnecessary additional procedures (biopsy, further surgery) because the gossypiboma was misdiagnosed, those procedures form part of the harm and increase the damages claim.
The Evidence Retrieval Sequence for retained item claims. A retained item DSAR is different from a standard medical records request because specific documents exist that prove or disprove the count failure. The Evidence Retrieval Sequence targets exactly these records:
| Document | What it proves |
|---|---|
| Theatre register/log | Who was present, when the procedure started and ended |
| Instrument and swab count sheet | Whether counts were performed, recorded, and reconciled (the core breach document) |
| WHO Sign Out checklist record | Whether the Sign Out phase was completed before wound closure |
| Scrub nurse's running tally sheet | Count methodology used (concurrent double-count vs sequential) |
| Post-operative nursing care plan | When symptoms were first noted by clinical staff |
| NIMS incident notification | Whether and when the hospital reported the incident to HIQA |
| Open disclosure record | What was communicated to you and when |
| Risk management investigation report | The hospital's own internal findings on what went wrong |
Hospitals must respond to a DSAR within one month under GDPR. If any document listed above is missing from the response, that absence itself can be significant. A solicitor experienced in Irish medical negligence will know which gaps to press on during discovery.
Practical steps if you suspect a foreign object was left inside you
1. Get diagnostic imaging. If you have persistent, unexplained post-operative symptoms, request imaging (X-ray, CT scan, or MRI) from your GP or treating consultant. An identified object triggers the date-of-knowledge clock, so document the date carefully.
2. Request your medical records. Submit a DSAR to the hospital for your complete surgical file, including the pre-operative assessment, anaesthesia records, theatre nursing notes, instrument count sheets, and any incident reports filed internally.
3. Do not rely solely on the hospital's open disclosure. Even if the hospital has disclosed the incident under the Patient Safety Act 2023, that disclosure is legally protected and can't serve as an admission. You need independent evidence from a separate medical expert.
4. Consult a specialist medical negligence solicitor. Retained item cases bypass the IRB. Your solicitor will commission an independent expert report, assess the limitation period, and issue proceedings directly in the High Court or Circuit Court depending on the likely value of the claim.
5. Preserve all evidence of financial loss. Keep records of lost wages, medical receipts, pharmacy costs, travel expenses, and any correspondence with the hospital. Special damages require documented proof. You'll then need to decide whether to pursue mediation or proceed directly to a court hearing, based on the strength of your evidence and the defendant's response.
Common Questions About Retained Surgical Item Claims
Can I claim if the retained object was found years after surgery?
Yes. The two-year time limit in Ireland runs from the "date of knowledge," not from the surgery date. If a retained sponge is discovered on a scan five years post-surgery, the clock starts from that scan date.
Courts apply a reasonableness test: you must not have unreasonably delayed seeking investigation when symptoms warranted it. A solicitor can assess whether your date of knowledge is defensible.
Practical insight: Delayed discovery is the norm in retained item claims, not the exception. These cases are among the most time-limit-friendly in Irish medical negligence.
Next step: Statute of Limitations 1957
Do medical negligence claims for retained items go through the IRB?
No. Claims arising from medical advice, treatment, or surgical procedures are excluded from the Injuries Resolution Board under Section 3(3) of the PIAB Act 2003. A medical negligence solicitor issues proceedings directly through the courts.
The IRB exemption applies to all medical negligence claims in Ireland, not just retained item cases. You cannot and do not need to file an IRB application first.
Why this matters: Attempting to file through the IRB wastes time without stopping the limitation clock.
Next step: PIAB Act 2003, s.3
What happens if the hospital discloses the error under the Patient Safety Act?
An open disclosure under the Patient Safety Act 2023 confirms a notifiable incident occurred. The hospital is legally required to disclose retained foreign objects causing serious harm.
Section 10 of the Act prevents the disclosure or any apology from being used as a direct admission of liability in court. You still need independent expert evidence to prove negligence and quantify damages.
Practical insight: Think of open disclosure as a starting signal, not a finish line. It tells you what happened but doesn't replace an independent investigation.
Next step: Patient Safety Act 2023
How much compensation can I receive for a retained surgical item?
Compensation depends on the severity of harm, duration of suffering, financial losses, and long-term prognosis. Awards are assessed under the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021) for general damages and individually calculated for special damages.
Retained item claims often involve corrective surgery, infection treatment, chronic pain, and psychological trauma. Cases involving permanent organ damage, fertility loss, or sepsis typically result in higher awards, though every case is different.
Practical insight: Future care costs are frequently the largest component, especially where the retained item caused lasting physical damage.
Next step: Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021)
What if the instrument count was recorded as "correct" but an item was still left behind?
False-correct counts happen more often than people expect. Research shows that cognitive fatigue, mathematical errors, and shift-change communication breakdowns can produce a documented "correct" count that is actually wrong.
A false-correct count doesn't weaken your claim. If anything, it strengthens it, because it shows the systemic failure was compounded by inadequate verification. Your solicitor should request the original count sheets and reconciliation records during discovery.
Practical insight: A documented "correct" count that proves incorrect is itself evidence of negligent procedure.
Next step: Frontiers in Medicine (2025)
Can I claim for the psychological impact of finding a retained object?
Yes. General damages in Ireland cover both physical and psychological harm. Diagnosed conditions like PTSD, anxiety disorder, or depression resulting from the discovery of a retained item and any subsequent corrective procedures are compensable.
The breach of trust between patient and surgical team often causes lasting psychological distress. Irish courts recognise this as a distinct head of damage alongside the physical injuries.
Practical insight: Obtain a formal psychiatric or psychological assessment early. Courts give more weight to documented diagnoses than to self-reported symptoms.
Next step: Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021)
Does it matter whether the surgery was in a public or private hospital?
The Patient Safety Act 2023 applies to both public (HSE) and private healthcare settings. Your right to open disclosure and your ability to bring a medical negligence claim are the same regardless of where the surgery took place.
The practical difference is the defendant and the claims pathway. Public hospital claims are managed through the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS), administered by the State Claims Agency on behalf of the HSE. The CIS handles all clinical negligence claims against public hospitals, GPs in certain schemes, and HSE-funded services. Private hospital claims are defended by the hospital's own professional indemnity insurer, which is a separate process with different settlement dynamics.
Practical insight: Private hospital claims sometimes resolve faster because the SCA manages a very large caseload under the CIS. Clinical negligence claims in Ireland take an average of 1,462 days to resolve. Your solicitor will identify the correct defendant early, as serving proceedings on the wrong entity wastes time within your two-year window.
Next step: State Claims Agency
Who is liable: the surgeon, the nurse, or the hospital?
In practice, the hospital (or its insurer / the State Claims Agency) bears vicarious liability for its employees. You don't need to prove which individual failed. The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur shifts the burden onto the hospital to explain how a foreign object ended up inside you despite mandatory safety protocols.
The Supreme Court addressed this in Doherty v Reynolds & Anor [2004], where the hospital could not demonstrate what actually occurred during surgery because staff had no recollection. The court held the evidential burden under res ipsa loquitur falls squarely on the hospital (see the case law section above).
Practical insight: From handling these cases in Irish courts, the focus is almost always on hospital-level failure, not pinpointing the individual at fault.
Next step: Courts Service of Ireland
Is a retained surgical item always considered negligence?
In almost all cases, yes. The classification as a Never Event reflects the medical consensus that established protocols should prevent retention entirely. Res ipsa loquitur creates a presumption of negligence that the hospital must rebut.
Rare exceptions exist (for example, a deliberate decision to leave packing material that was intended to be removed at a later procedure). Your solicitor and independent medical expert will assess whether any exception could apply.
Practical insight: Hospitals rarely succeed in rebutting the negligence presumption for retained items. The burden on them is heavy.
Next step: Patient Safety Act 2023
What to Consider Next
What if I need corrective surgery to remove the retained item?
The cost and consequences of corrective surgery (including additional recovery time, complications, and psychological impact) form part of your claim. Keep all medical bills, correspondence, and records of time off work. Your solicitor will factor these into both general and special damages.
Can I switch from a private claim to the State Claims Agency process?
If the surgery was in a public hospital, the SCA defends the claim on behalf of the HSE. You don't choose between routes. Where the surgery occurred determines which entity responds. If you're unsure whether the hospital was public or private, your solicitor can confirm and direct proceedings to the correct defendant.
What if the retained object caused an infection that led to further complications?
Cascading injuries (retained sponge → infection → sepsis → organ damage) are all compensable as foreseeable consequences of the original negligence. The claim should address the full chain of harm, not just the initial retention. This is where experienced legal and medical evidence makes the most difference.
References
- HSE National Policy and Procedure for Safe Surgery
- State Claims Agency (SCA)
- National Treasury Management Agency, Annual Report 2024
- Frontiers in Medicine: Trends in litigation related to retained surgical foreign bodies (2025)
- Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023
- Statute of Limitations 1957, s.11
- Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, s.3
- Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021)
- Gov.ie: Commencement of the Patient Safety Act 2023 (Sep 2024)
- WHO Surgical Safety Checklist
- Courts Service of Ireland
- Wan W et al. Improving safety in the operating room: a systematic literature review of retained surgical sponges. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2009;22(2):207-14
- AHRQ PSNet: Retained Surgical Items — Causation and Prevention (2025)
- Cima RR et al. Incidence and characteristics of potential and actual retained foreign object events in surgical patients. J Am Coll Surg. 2008;207(1):80-7
- Irish Examiner: Retained surgical items in Irish hospitals (FOI data)
Related pages on this site: Medical Negligence Claims Ireland · General Surgery Negligence · Surgical Error Claims · Misdiagnosis Claims · Hospital Negligence
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different and outcomes vary. Consult a qualified solicitor for advice specific to your situation. Gary Matthews Solicitors,
3rd Floor, Ormond Building, 31-36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin D07. 01 903 6408. Regulated by the Law Society of Ireland.Gary Matthews Solicitors
Medical negligence solicitors, Dublin
We help people every day of the week (weekends and bank holidays included) that have either been injured or harmed as a result of an accident or have suffered from negligence or malpractice.
Contact us at our Dublin office to get started with your claim today
