Surgeon botched operation on Llandudno grandmother

Mar 18 2010 by Eva Ketley, North Wales Weekly News

Surgeon botched operation on Llandudno grandmother

A GRANDMOTHER from Llandudno was left with a collapsed face and hearing loss after a botched ear operation.

Surgeon Mohamed Bahaa Madkour was struck off last September by the General Medical Council after it emerged he’d faked a cancer patient’s medical records to cover his tracks, after failing to spot they had throat cancer.

It was revealed he’d had 18 misconduct allegations against him proved over his 35-year career, of which 20 years were spent at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

One of his victims was Eirian Stanley, 62, of Ffordd Morfa, who underwent an operation on her ear by the consultant in July 1990. During the op the surgeon damaged her inner ear and a facial nerve.

A medical report found there was a “failure of proper informed consent”, a “failure to appreciate the anatomy” and that the operation itself was “carried out to an unsatisfactory standard”.

She was awarded a substantial pay-out after a county court claim against Gwynedd Health Authority.

She said: “It affected every aspect of my life, from my job to the family. My face was left drooping and my hearing is still not the same. This left me angry and upset. It all came flooding back when he was in the news again.

“I was shocked that so long after doing this to me he was still working and doing this to people. I am angry with the Trust for allowing this to happen.

“They said at the time he was struck off, that no one else was harmed. Do they not count us as harmed?”

Nerve damage is a known risk of this type of operation but it was found Mr Madkour had fallen short of accepted standards. It was understood Mr Madkour underwent periods of retraining after the incident.

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Trust stated last year that at the time Mr Madkour was stuck off no one else had been harmed, but they did not rule out that other patients during his time as an ENT surgeon at Ysbyty Gwynedd could have been injured.

The Health Board clarified that the comment only focused on the specific cancer case.

It was not until June 2008 that Mr Madkour retired from the North Wales NHS Trust as a result of the allegations to the GMC about him lying on medical notes. The GMC hearing was told Mr Madkour had lied about sending a patient for MRI and CT scans after she had come in complaining of nose bleeds, a sore throat, and paralysis of her left vocal cord in October 2006.

A judgement on the case described his negligence and inadequate patient care. He told the panel he’d worked in the NHS for 35 years with an unblemished record. It was submitted that he was working in a “dysfunctional ENT department” at Ysbyty Gwynedd at the time.