In Willaby v. Bendersky, 383 Ill. App. 3d 853, 891 N.E.2d 509, 322 Ill. Dec. 494 (2008), the plaintiff filed a malpractice action against a hospital and two doctors after an operation in which a sponge was left inside her abdomen. The claim against the hospital was based on its nurses' failure to keep an accurate sponge count. The trial court directed a verdict for the hospital. The appellate court reversed, holding that, even without expert testimony on the standard of care applicable to the nurses, the fact that the sponge was left in the plaintiff's body established a prima facie case of medical negligence and the burden shifted to the hospital to explain the nurses' failure to keep an accurate sponge count. Willaby, 383 Ill. App. 3d at 866.