The mother of a 10-year-old boy has told how her son was left without feeling in his leg for more than a year – and is now unable to bend his knee at all – after undergoing treatment to relieve pain at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
It comes after the family received the findings of an independent assessment of the treatment provided to her child by surgeon Yaser Jabbar at the hospital.
Hundreds of cases are being investigated following a Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) review which highlighted concerns over Mr Jabbar’s behaviour, and his assessments and treatment of children.
The boys’ mother, of London, says her son suffered from constant pain, the loss of feeling in his leg for more than a year, and finally the loss of almost all movement in his knee after the surgeon inserted two screws. She said:
After years of treatment under Mr Jabbar and a number of procedures which only seemed to make my son’s situation worse, I just told him to stop and that he’d be doing no more surgery on him. It had to be brought to an end.
He left him for more than a year with little or no sensation in his right leg, then he inserted two screws into his knee in an operation that left him with a completely straight leg as he is now unable to bend his knee.
We were never told he’d be left like that, as we’d have never agreed to it. We feel so badly let down, as we felt we were in the hands of an expert we could trust.
Arrange a call back
Nerve damage caused during treatment
The boy was under the treatment of Mr Jabbar from the age of five as, due to the position of his right knee, he often suffered from pain and swelling.
The condition had been managed with painkillers, injections and physiotherapy sessions, but he and his family were told the pain could be eased, whilst also improving the movement in his knee, by surgery.
However, during the procedure, the boy suffered nerve damage and was left in increased pain, with reduced sensation down his leg, and no sensation at all in his foot for more than a year.
Over the coming months, his family were reassured the nerve damage would gradually heal, but as he was in casts he developed extensive blisters and sores on his heel and forefoot.
By the time a year had passed, with the boy still without sensation in his foot and a ‘chronic bend’ in his knee, his family began to seek second opinions in Germany and Finland.
However, when he then suffered a fall and broke his thighbone in July 2021, Mr Jabbar suggested using it as an opportunity to also operate on his knee at the same time, and inserted two screws, fusing the knee. Following the operation, the child was left unable to bend his leg at all, something his family were not aware would be the outcome. His mother said:
We weren’t expecting him to be left as he was, needing to use a wheelchair and crutches. We were not warned of that at all.
Mr Jabbar then started talking about further operations to make his legs the same length, as his left leg was longer, but we just said no, we’re not having any more operations done by you, as it had all been such a nightmare.
It has been awful for my son. He was referred to the hospital to make him better and to rid him of the pain and improve his mobility, but has been left so much worse. He’s a young boy who wants to run, play with his friends, and play football, but he’s been denied all that for so long.
Now we are having to see what can be done to reverse this, and we have seen a specialist who says the screws in his knee will need removing, but again that’s yet another traumatic operation for him to go through, and a long hard road ahead.
Hospital apologises ‘unreservedly’ as report confirms harm
The boy’s mother, 33, received a letter from Great Ormond Street Hospital apologising ‘unreservedly’ for the distress caused, and the impact this has had on their family.
The letter included the findings of an RCS panel review of her son’s treatment, which said investigations, assessments, examination, diagnosis and operations and procedures had been ‘unacceptable’, as was Mr Jabbar’s clinical decision making, and efforts to obtain patient consent.
It said the treatment provided was so complex that Mr Jabbar should have had discussions with ‘colleagues locally, nationally or even internationally’ to ensure collaborative decision-making, adding that a lack of evidence of this suggested he ‘didn’t have the skills to manage complex cases in a collaborative manner’ which ‘showed a lack of insight into complex decision making.’
The report also highlighted there being a lack of evidence to demonstrate that MRI scans – which showed a lesion in the area which later fractured when the boy fell – had been viewed before the initial surgery was carried out.
A lack of imaging of his thighbone and knee between April 2019 and September 2021 – all the time he was under Mr Jabbar’s care – was also highlighted.
With regards to the nerve damage caused by the original treatment in 2019, the review panel concluded the surgery had been a reasonable course of treatment, but that ‘consideration should have been given to the nerve and how to prevent injury’, and that no steps had been taken to prevent the nerve injury.
The report also said there had been ‘no information to suggest that the decision to proceed with knee fusion (the insertion of screws) and fracture fixation in 2021 involved collaboration with the patients’ family or discussion with colleagues’.
It added that ‘alternatives were not considered or discussed with the patient’s family and the lifetime consequences and future surgical options were not adequately explained’, which was ‘unacceptable.’
Solicitors says picture of harm ‘very worrying’
Solicitor Caroline Murgatroyd, of Hudgell Solicitors, represents a number of families whose children were treated by Mr Jabbar not only at Great Ormond Street Hospital but also during his time previously at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She said:
From the families we have spoken to and the reports we have seen, there is a repeated picture of unacceptable assessments, clinical decision-making and treatments on children which brought them no clear benefit, and in some cases either prolonged or caused further suffering and harm.
The lack of record keeping and consultation with other experts has appeared in every case we have seen so far which has been independently reviewed, which raises serious alarm bells over the governance and management of the department.
