Canada saw a major jump — 14 per cent over the last five years — in the number of medical items left inside patients after procedures, according to a study released Thursday.
CIHI said 553 such objects were left inside patients over the last two years.
A foreign body — sponges, needles, clamps, scissors, etc. — is left inside a patient in Canada 9.8 times out of every 100,000 surgeries. That's three times the average.