Physicians leave a tool or other item in a patient after surgery in roughly one out of 1,500 operations involving an open abdomen or chest, according to an article in the Jan. 16 New England Journal of Medicine. Findings, based on data collected from professional liability claims, show that the risk of a patient retaining a foreign body after surgery increases in emergencies, with unplanned changes in procedure and with higher body-mass index. Researchers found that claims ending in litigation resulted in an average of $52,581 in costs for compensation and legal defense expenses. As a precaution, the report recommends the use of routine intraoperative radiographic screening in selected high-risk categories of operations. The report says that screening when compared to professional liability fees could prove a cost-effective prevention. For more, go to http://www.nejm.org.