Doctor in fatal ops at work after six months suspension

18 January 2018

A surgeon who is alleged to have botched operations that killed or seriously injured more than 20 patients is working at a top London hospital.

Gideon Lauffer was suspended last year after the deaths of two people in his care. Six months later he was free to resume practising and is now working in A&E at St Thomas' Hospital.

One patient, Terry Harris, died after a routine operation to remove his gall bladder went wrong and his bowel was punctured. Another, Allan Scammell died from blood poisoning in 2007, after Mr Lauffer allegedly bungled a hernia operation, sewing his bowel to the wall of his abdomen.

Other cases include one of a patient, known as MC, who lost a testicle when Mr Lauffer cut off his blood supply.

The General Medical Council recommended the doctor be struck off but was overruled by an independent panel which makes the final decision in disciplinary hearings. The case has led to fresh calls for the system to be overhauled to protect patients.

It emerged the GMC was contacted by a colleague of Mr Lauffer to investigate the deaths of 12 patients as early as 2000, yet it did not review his performance until 2004. Some of his patients, apparently injured in botched operations, were allegedly paid off.

Fitness to practise panels usually comprise two lay members and a doctor. The GMC, which is answerable to Parliament, is powerless to challenge the panel.

Mr Harris died in 2007 at King George Hospital, Ilford. His widow, Ann, 60, said today: "This isn't just about Terry. This man seems to have done a lot of damage and we don't feel we have a voice."

GMC chief executive Niall Dickson said: "Our role is to protect patients. This is undermined when panels do not take the action we believe is needed to do this. We are pressing for the right of appeal of these decisions... to ensure that patients are fully protected."

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry called for an immediate review into the disciplinary process, saying it was "scandalous" that doctors recommended to be struck off were allowed to continue practising.

A spokeswoman at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said Mr Lauffer was "undertaking a period of retraining" which started in mid-July. She said: "He is currently working as a junior doctor in the emergency department under the close supervision of consultant staff and in line with the conditions placed on his practice by the GMC. The situation is kept under regular review and this is not a permanent position."

Mr Lauffer, who lives in Hendon, said: "I want to apologise to my former patients and their families for any mistakes that I have made."

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