Great Ormond Street Hospital review into former limb reconstruction surgeon involves over 700 children

Yaser Jabbar, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who worked at the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service from 2017 until he stepped down in September last year, treated 721 patients at the London hospital, which provides a range of specialist paediatric services. Jabbar, who lives in Dubai and no longer works at the London hospital, is reported to be an expert in limb reconstruction, but has not had a licence to practise medicine in the UK since 8 January, according to the General Medical Council’s (GMC) website.

Failings in care resulting in actual harm

It is understood that the review will last 18 months and will be undertaken by five external paediatric orthopaedic surgical consultants. A GOSH spokesperson said the hospital was committed to “learning from every single patient that we treat, and to being open and transparent with families when care fell below the high standards we strive for”.

GOSH confirmed that they have contacted all 721 patients and families who are part of the review. Of the 721 patients treated by Yaser Jabbar, to date, 39 cases have been reviewed and so far, 22 children have been found to have been harmed, with 13 classified as suffering “severe harm”, with potentially life-long injuries. In addition, 456 cases have been looked at by a senior nurse and paediatrician and have not been categorised as needing urgent attention.

According to the GMC, there were a number of accusations made by families whose children were operated on. These included the wrong choice of surgery, surgery performed to an unreasonable standard, failure to advise parents about the risk and benefits of undergoing and not undergoing surgery and poor communication with families with regards to obtaining their consent for treatment and procedures. The results of some of these failings include leg length discrepancies, nerve injuries and in one case an amputation which could possibly have been avoided.

Not the first review

But this is not the first time that a review has been held at the hospital. In 2022, after concerns were raised by a number of patient families and staff, the trust commissioned a review by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) into its paediatric orthopaedic service. Two years later and with a second review already in progress, families of children treated by Yaser Jabbar have called for the hospital to reveal publicly their findings from the 2022 review into patient safety.

Rachael Flanagan, Head of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury at Alsters Kelley said. “We welcome this new review. It’s essential that families find out why things happened and what course of events led to serious issues occurring. With understanding, honesty and full transparency, I hope it will ensure these same problems never happen again.”

Rachael continued. “Every child requiring limb reconstruction should have access to safe, effective and truly personalised care. Both myself, and my colleague Senior Solicitor Haidee Vedy, have a huge amount of experience when it comes to medical negligence. As medical negligence lawyers, we are passionate about recovering necessary compensation for victims of negligence who have suffered physical and/or psychological injury.”

Free initial meeting for support and advice

If you have any concerns about the standard of surgical limb treatment that your child received at Great Ormond Street Hospital and would like help or advice, please contact Rachael Flanagan on 01926 356030 or email rachael.flanagan@alsterskelley.com