Independent Review finds 94 patients were harmed during care by Great Ormond Street Hospital orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar

He no longer has a licence to practice medicine in the UK and it’s thought that he now works in the United Arab Emirates.

At the end of January, results of the independent review were published. The study concluded that of the 789 children under Mr Jabbar’s care, 94 were specifically harmed as a result of his actions, of whom 91 had been operated on by Jabbar. In addition, the report found that 36 children suffered severe harm – such as delayed diagnosis or failed surgery, while 39 patients came to moderate harm and 19 patients were mildly harmed, such as being given unnecessary general anaesthetic.

High risk operations

Mr Jabbar specialised in limb lengthening and reconstruction. The treatments he provided, which involved inserting metal plates, bone grafts and implants, are generally considered high-risk and some level of complications are to be expected.

However, the report highlighted cases of delayed diagnosis, poor planning before surgery, premature removal of bone fixation devices, operations carried out without a clear rationale, problems with how bones were pinned, making cuts into bones at the wrong level, putting implants in the wrong place, incomplete notes and surgery that did not achieve the intended outcome. The way complications were identified and managed was also criticised.

Lessons learnt

The Chief Executive of GOSH, Matthew Shaw, said everyone at the hospital was “profoundly sorry” for the harm caused, but insisted the hospital had acted “incredibly quickly” once concerns were raised. He promised the trust had learned lessons. He added that they “had made significant changes to both the orthopaedic service itself and across the hospital to minimise the chance of something like this happening again with training on handling complaints, investing more in whistle-blowing support for staff and getting surgeons to discuss the most complex cases they are seeing with the National Orthopaedic Hospital.”

Understanding, honesty and transparency

Rachael Flanagan, Head of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury at Alsters Kelley said. “It is extremely disappointing and upsetting to see the total number of patients who have been harmed by Mr Jabbar’s actions. We understand that NHS England’s London region has confirmed it will carry out a review into GOSH’s handling of the case. With understanding, honesty and full transparency, I hope it will be possible to stop these problems from ever happening again and make GOSH a better and safer place for all current and future patients.”

Rachael continued. “Every child requiring limb lengthening or 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, it’s our job to recover necessary compensation for victims of negligence who may 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, or would like help or advice on any medical negligence matter, please contact Rachael Flanagan on 01926 356030 or email rachael.flanagan@alsterskelley.com