At least five to 10 incorrect surgical procedures are performed each day in the United States, some to devastating effect, according to a study by the Veteran's Administration, reported in U.S. News & World Report.

The New York City medical malpractice lawyers at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool know the results of a surgical error can be devastating. Cases of surgical complication in New York City often result in the tragic injury or death of a patient.

The most common reasons for surgical error include lack of communication and typically involve the performance of incorrect procedures, surgeries performed on the wrong site, on the wrong side of the body, or on the wrong patient.

The study, conducted by the U.S. Veteran's Administration, comes in the wake of a 2003 set of Administration directives meant to minimize the chances of surgical error.

"Up until today, I can tell you, we have not had any reports where people have followed the procedures as they're written and ever had one of these problems," said lead researcher Dr. James P. Bagian, director of the VA National Center for Patient Safety.

The report is published in the November issue of the Archives of Surgery.

Bagian's group reviewed 342 surgical problems from 130 VA hospitals. Problems were identified as those happening in the operating room and those happening outside the operating room.

The study looked at 212 "adverse events," where the wrong patient was operated on or the wrong procedure was performed. Additionally, there were 130 "close calls," where a problem was recognized before the procedure was done.

The study found 21 percent of the surgical errors were caused by poor communication among the surgical team. Of the adverse events, about half occurred in the operating room and half occurred elsewhere.

The most adverse event reports were in ophthalmology and invasive radiology (21.2 percent). Orthopedics accounted for the second highest rate of problems in the operating room.

The most harm was caused by pulmonary cases where fluid was removed from the wrong side of the chest or the procedure was done at an incorrect place on the chest, the researchers said.

Dr. Jeffrey M. Rothschild, an associate physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the findings are unsettling because the VA has a better program than most and the rate of surgical error is probably higher at other medical facilities.

"The VA system is better and more advanced. Our systems are still not robust enough to prevent human error from slipping through," he said. "The VA is probably less of an issue, because they were one of the first systems to really take on safety."