Calls for negligenct doctor to face questioning
Hospital chiefs are facing calls to be involved in an inquiry, after claims state that they continually ignored repeated warnings about the competence of a children's surgeon, who was found guilty of misconduct.
The 43-year-old doctor faces being struck off this week after a General Medical Council panel heard how she removed 90 per cent of a seven-week-old baby girl's bladder.
She had assumed mistakenly, that it was a hernia during an operation, at Manchester Children's Hospital in 2008.
Claim could be made following clinical mishaps
A situation like this could be noted as medical negligence and lead to a compensation claim being awarded to the people affected.
The panel concluded that her conduct was so poor it went 'beyond mere negligence' and rejected claims she was a competent and safe surgeon.
Documents witnessed showed that several of her colleagues alerted senior hospital staff at Alder Hey, in Liverpool and Manchester children's hospitals, about her abilities to operate safely as early as 2005.
Botched tummy operation to young boy
This included the case of a six-year-old boy, who nearly died after a routine stomach operation went wrong. However, the surgeon went on to qualify as a consultant in 2006.
The bouts of professional negligence will add to mounting concerns that patient safety is being dismissed or ignored by health officials in the UK.
Bill introduced to encourage speaking
There was even a debate in the Houses of Parliament to introduce a Private Member's Bill to strengthen protection for NHS whistleblowers.
The NHS Public Interest Disclosure Support Bill calls for the introduction of independent support officers to whom whistleblowers can speak anonymously without fear of reprisals or being ignored.
Several hundreds affected by poor care
Last year MPs heard that staff concerns at Mid Staffs Hospital, where up to 1,200 patients died because of poor care, were ignored by hospital managers.
Dr Richard Taylor, an independent MP who worked to introduce the bill said: "We need to find out why nothing was done about these complaints so we can stop concerns about patient safety being sat on."
The young boy from Burnley, who almost died when the doctor failed to notice that she had skewered his colon while inserting a feeding tube into his stomach, was a case that was noted.
The life threatening mistake was discovered 10 months later by a surgeon at Alder Hey, after the boy's weight dropped to 12lbs and his mother went on to push for a second opinion. She has referred his case to the GMC.
No complaints on deadly doctor
Alder Hey hospital, where the doctor was a trainee, said it has "no record" of any complaints against her. Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was unable to confirm any prior complaints about the defendant.
Dr Mark Porter, the chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, said: "A situation in which people feel scared to speak out, or do not have confidence their concerns will be taken seriously, is unacceptable, and potentially dangerous."Updated on 4/18/2010