When a surgeon accidentally leaves a surgical tool inside a patient’s body after a procedure, the harm can be severe.

The patient can suffer from life-threatening infections, organ damage and an additional surgery to remove the object.

This type of medical error is extremely rare, but it does happen.

For example, an investigation by The Philadelphia Inquirer identified 203 cases in which patients at 39 Philadelphia-area hospitals in the United States received treatment related to a surgical item accidentally left inside their bodies during a procedure.