New Tech Tracks Things Left Behind

Hospitals are turning to technology to cut down on incidents of doctors sewing up surgical patients with sponges and other items left inside, the Chicago Tribune reports. A bar-coding system to ensure what goes in comes back out is one solution; another involves tagging items with chips that allow them to be detected with a radio-frequency wand.

A 2003 study reported that one in every 1,000-1,500 operations left the patient with more than just a scar as a souvenir; the $50,000 price tag to remove a foreign object and treat infection is steep, and it pales in comparison to millions awarded in malpractice lawsuits. The tracking tags, meanwhile, run just $50-$60 per surgery. (More surgery stories.)