A Great Ormond Street Hospital orthopaedic surgeon who botched operations injured almost 100 children, a report has revealed – as a victim told of being left in ‘horrifying’ pain.
Some 36 of Yaser Jabbar’s patients suffered severe harm, a report published by Great Ormond Street Hospital has concluded.
GOSH released a review on Thursday into the activities of Jabbar, who treated hundreds of children from 2017 to 2022.
It was discovered that 36 children endured extreme harm while under the care of the surgeon, who worked on lower limb reconstruction.
An additional 39 patients sustained moderate harm, and 19 patients sustained mild harm.
The study also reported that 642 patients did not come to harm that could be attributable to the surgeon.
The disgraced surgeon no longer holds a licence to practise medicine in the United Kingdom and is believed to reside overseas.
He operated on children, causing them to experience chronic agony, deformities, lifelong nerve damage, and even an amputation.
Other patients have been left with drop foot – a debilitating condition where the foot cannot be pulled up, and the sufferer must bring their leg up high when walking to avoid tripping over.
Some found themselves living with legs of different lengths by up to 20cm after going under Jabbar’s knife.
GOSH ordered an independent review of the care provided to 721 patients who passed through Jabbar at the hospital.
An additional 68 cases were subsequently uncovered, bringing the total to 789.
Jabbar harmed between 85 and 100 children, the trust confirmed.
At least 32 of those suffered extreme harm, meaning potentially lifelong deformities or chronic pain, 36 were left with moderate harm, and 18 cases were mild.
However, some families of the children who feature in the report have criticised it, and claimed that a ‘cover-up culture’ will obscure the truth.
Some blame GOSH for ‘failing their children’, while others claimed the report – by external surgeons using patient notes – would leave more questions than answers.
One mother told the BBC last month: ‘Mr Jabbar was known for not writing up records or keeping notes correctly, but these reviews have been based on hospital notes.
‘My daughter’s report doesn’t reflect her journey at all.’
Jabbar ceased treating patients at the world-renowned hospital in 2022 after concerns were raised about his work.
He left GOSH in 2023 after a report by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found some surgeries had been ‘inappropriate’ and ‘incorrect’.
Someone should be held accountable for this and then prosecuted.
We keep getting told how wonderful these doctors and nurses are, but some of them are coming over from other countries to work here, and in some countries, their standards are not the same as ours. We need British doctors and nurses, not some Jabbar the Hutt. It makes you wonder if anybody actually checked his credentials or even if they were genuine.
It also makes you question if something more nefarious was happening or if this was just a case of incomplete ineptitude, but honestly, what kind of quality system allows this to happen?
Jabbar worked at GOSH for years, but no senior managers or consultants who worked with him did anything about it; they just turned a blind eye.
To be honest, it is very unsettling that the system permits butchers to continue their operations for such a long time before malpractice accusations are thoroughly looked into and remedied, and it’s shameful that this man was permitted to flee the country. Is this the kind of conduct we have to get used to now?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 