The BBC refused to release the name of a UK surgeon who at Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, used a Swiss Army knife to open up the chest of a patient. The knife was used by him to normally cut fruit. The surgeon claimed that he could not find a sterile scalpel. He has been criticised for this by other doctors who were puzzled as to why there was not a scalpel there in the surgical kit, as it is normal practice to do a count of instruments before surgeon enter the theatre. So, something went very wrong here.
The media refuses to name the surgeon, but Chat GPT, and who knows if that can be trusted, does name him as an Egyptian-British heart surgeon. The patient lived, but three low-risk operations were performed by this surgeon in two months where all three patients died soon after. So, it looks like the latest guy lucked out. All I can say is: don't get sick! Medicine is becoming like it might be in the battlefield, which seems to be the direction of Western society.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62g7ed3qzxo
"A surgeon at a crisis-hit NHS trust used a Swiss Army penknife to open up the chest of a patient because he claimed he could not find a sterile scalpel.
University Hospitals Sussex has said the operation was an emergency, but the surgeon's actions were "outside normal procedures and should not have been necessary".
Prof Graeme Poston, an expert witness on clinical negligence and a former consultant surgeon, told the BBC: "It surprises me and appals me. Firstly, a penknife is not sterile. Secondly it is not an operating instrument. And thirdly all the kit [must have been] there."
Police are separately looking into at least 105 cases of alleged medical negligence at the trust and considering gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter charges.
The surgeon in the penknife case, who the BBC is not naming, was operating on a patient at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton when he struggled to find a scalpel.
Instead he used a Swiss Army knife which he normally used to cut fruit for his lunch.
The patient survived but internal documents show the surgeon's colleagues felt his behaviour was "questionable" and were "very surprised" he was unable to find a scalpel.
The BBC has also discovered the same surgeon carried out three supposedly low-risk operations in two months where all three patients died soon after.
The BBC has previously reported that:
- Four whistleblowers said patients had died unnecessarily and been "effectively maimed" at the trust
- A former surgeon claimed a "gang culture" existed in the neurosurgery department. The same doctor alleged one surgeon had disproportionate deaths and a second did complex operations without adequate training
- An internal review conceded doctors could have saved the life of student Melissa Zoglie had they acted sooner
- Sussex Police has recruited extra staff as part of its manslaughter probe concerning the trust
- A Royal College of Surgeons review found a "culture of fear" at the trust and suggested senior managers may need to be replaced
- The trust lost a nine-month legal battle with the BBC and The Times to block access to and redact documents in two employment tribunal cases