63 surgical instruments sewn up inside New Jersey hospital patients

I came across this report by Mike Ferrara on InjuryBoard.com (21 Jan), and this is what caught my eye:

"When it comes to patient safety, it’s important to note New Jersey ’s record: doctors, nurses and other health care staff committed 9,381 preventable medical errors in 2007. Sixty-three times, a foreign object was left inside a patient’s body after surgery. (The expected number is zero.) Doctors and health care workers caused preventable injury to more than 900 women during a vaginal birth requiring forceps or other instruments."

I don't deny that medical errors occur during cesarean surgery too; of course they do - but how often do we really think about the huge number of women that suffer preventable morbidity during a vaginal delivery? How often is it reported in the media?

This is 900 women in New Jersey in 2007. How many women and how many preventable injuries have there been throughout the whole United States - not to mention the UK, Canada and Australia? These are injuries that many women who choose cesarean delivery are seeking to avoid (myself included).