Nearly 100 children were harmed in botched leg surgeries performed by a rogue Great Ormond Street Hospital surgeon, a report has found.
Children were left with chronic pain, deformities, permanent nerve damage, and, in one case, an amputation after being operated on by disgraced NHS surgeon Yasser Jabbar, 43.
Other patients suffer from the debilitating condition drop foot, which prevents them from lifting their foot and forces them to raise their leg high when walking to avoid falling.
After undergoing surgery by Jabbar, some children now have to live with legs of different lengths by up to 20cm.
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) ordered a review into the care of 721 patients treated by Jabbar, who worked at the London hospital between June 2017 and September 2023.
The total number of patients increased to 789 after a further 68 cases were later uncovered by the now complete review.
On January 29, more than two years after the surgeon was first suspended, the hospital is expected to present the full findings to its trust board.
However, the trust has confirmed there are between 85 and 100 children who came to harm at the hands of Jabbar, The Sunday Times reported.
At least 32 of those suffered severe harm, meaning potentially lifelong deformities or chronic pain, while 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, claiming that a ‘cover-up culture’ will obscure the truth.
Some accuse GOSH of ‘failing their children’, while others claim the report would leave more questions than answers.
Last month, one mother told BBC: ‘Mr Jabbar was known for not writing up records or keeping notes correctly, but these reviews have been based on hospital notes.
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‘My daughter’s report doesn’t reflect her journey at all.’
Another parent who is unhappy with the reports on their child’s care outcome was Dean Stalham.
His daughter, Bunty, was born with a rare bone disease, which caused her left tibia to be bowed and short.
She was also born with a genetic condition that causes tumors to grow on her nerves.
Over 15 months, Bunty had several operations that all failed, leaving her in agony and taking strong pain relief for months.
In May 2020, she had a below-knee amputation despite undergoing all surgeries carried out by Jabbar.
The surgeries completed by Jabbar included bone grafting, limb lengthening of the tibia and the use of frames.
The report states that the physical impact on Bunty was ‘moderate’, but her father told the BBC it was ‘simply wrong.’
He said the report claimed she had six operations, but he said the figure was actually ten.
He told the BBC: ‘Not a single one of Bunty’s surgeries worked, and none of them were of any benefit to her whatsoever.
‘When they were trying to lengthen her leg they ended up shortening it by about eight inches.’
In 2022, Jabbar stopped treating patients at GOSH after concerns were raised about his work.
After a report by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found some surgeries had been ‘inappropriate’ and ‘incorrect’, he left GOSH in 2023.
Jabbar then moved to Dubai, where he continued to operate and claimed to have been one of the most sought-after doctors in his field.
However, he was ditched as a speaker by a major conference and removed from hospitals’ websites after his past was reported by The Daily Mail.
GOSH promised that each of Jabbar’s patients would receive an independent report to conclude what level of harm they suffered at his hands.
The trust’s credibility has faced a blow as insiders have claimed that fundamental cultural problems at the hospital have not changed.
A source told The Times that if it were to happen again, they do not have the confidence that anything would be done differently.
In a statement published on their website today, GOSH said: ‘We are deeply sorry to all the children, young people and their families who have been hurt and impacted.’
‘During our review of our patients’ care, we have tried to be as open as we can with all families, but we know this can’t make up for the experience that they have had and neither can we fully understand the impact that this has had on their lives,’ it continued.
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