By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 6, 2004

Patients who check in to the nation's hospitals have new protections against one of the most devastating and preventable medical errors -- surgery on the wrong body part. Rules imposed July 1 by the agency that accredits most of the nation's hospitals, as well as some surgery centers, will require specific actions designed to prevent wrong-site surgery.

Regulations issued by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) require that doctors "sign their site" -- writing "yes" or their initials on the operative site with a surgical pen after conferring with a patient just before surgery.

The new rules also require that the medical team take a "timeout" in the operating room to verify the identity of the patient, confirm the procedure to be performed and ensure that all necessary equipment is present.

Hospitals whose staffs fail to comply with the new procedures could face the loss of their accreditation, an action that would imperil their funding. The new rules are an effort to stem an alarming increase in the number of reports of operations conducted on the wrong body part, the wrong procedure or even the wrong patient.