Surgical drain tubes are temporary, flexible devices placed near a surgical site to remove excess fluid, blood, pus, or air that accumulates in the body after an operation. By removing stagnant fluid, drain tubes eliminate a breeding ground for bacteria that could cause infection. Usage of drain tubes also support tissue healing and relieve internal pressure and swelling around sensitive or reconstructed sites.
In breast reconstruction surgery, drain tubes keep fluid and blood from building up in the space where an implant and its scar tissue capsule used to be, and along the sites where tissue was moved. The main purposes of a drain in this type of surgery are preventing seroma, managing oozing and bleeding, helping the tissue pocket close, and lowering the risk of infection.
Drains are meant to come out once they have done their job. If part of a drain is left behind, the risk of complications rises, and the patient can suffer real harm.
In this case, a portion of our client’s surgical drain remained in her body after her drains were removed. Her case shows how a single preventable mistake can derail a recovery, and why injured patients should act quickly to protect their rights. The Townsley Law Firm pursued this case on our client’s behalf and recovered a settlement of over $9,000.
A survivor’s recovery took a painful turn
Our client is a breast cancer survivor. Years earlier, she had a double mastectomy followed by reconstruction with breast implants. After a serious car accident, she developed infections and wounds on her chest that would not heal and kept returning over her implants. Concerned that the implants were the cause, she chose to have them removed and her breasts rebuilt using her own tissue.
During that surgery, the surgeon placed drains in both breasts and in her back. About two weeks later, the drains were removed at a follow-up office visit. No one confirmed that each drain had come out in one piece.
Her pain did not resolve. Within weeks, she was in physical therapy for severe shoulder pain and limited range of motion. She endured months of painful therapy with little relief and continued to report pain in her back and left shoulder. For a woman who had already fought through cancer, the new pain was more than a physical setback. It was a source of real fear about what might be wrong. The pain also cost her the job she depended on, and she struggled through it while caring for a family member who was seriously ill.
Imaging eventually revealed the cause. A chest X-ray taken about seven months after surgery showed a drain-like device in the soft tissue of her left chest wall, and a second X-ray confirmed it. A different plastic surgeon then removed 18 cm of retained drain tubing through a small incision. At roughly seven inches long, the retained tube was not a microscopic fragment. It was a substantial piece of surgical equipment that should have been removed before she left her providers’ care.
Patients trust that every instrument, sponge, and tube used in their care will be accounted for and removed. When that trust is broken, the consequences can follow a patient for months.
Retained surgical items are “never events”
The medical community treats a foreign object left inside a patient as one of the most serious and preventable surgical errors. Retention of a foreign object after a surgical or other invasive procedure appears on the National Quality Forum’s list of Serious Reportable Events, the formal list behind the term “never event.” The Joint Commission treats a confirmed retained surgical item as a sentinel event that requires a comprehensive analysis. Retained surgical items are also the sentinel event most frequently reported to The Joint Commission.
These errors rarely come down to bad luck The most common causes include missing policies and procedures, failure to follow existing procedures, and inadequate staff education. Something as simple as checking that a removed drain is intact can catch the problem on the spot. Hospitals and surgical teams have the tools to prevent these injuries. When they fail to use those tools, patients pay the price.
Our client’s injury was preventable. The retained drain tube caused her months of unnecessary pain, anxiety, lost work, and a delayed recovery. Instead of moving forward after surgery, she spent most of a year searching for answers about pain that never should have occurred.
Speak up when post-surgical pain does not add up
Not every complication after surgery signals malpractice, but some symptoms deserve a closer look. Tell your doctor about pain that worsens instead of improving, pain in an area you did not expect, or discomfort that lasts well beyond the recovery timeline your surgeon described. Ask whether imaging is appropriate. Request complete medical records early and keep a written timeline of treatment and symptoms.
