A Great Ormond Street Hospital orthopaedic surgeon who botched operations injured almost 100 children, a report has revealed – as a victim told of being left in ‘horrifying’ pain.
Some 36 of Yaser Jabbar’s patients suffered severe harm, a report published by Great Ormond Street Hospital has concluded.
It found 36 children endured severe harm while under the care of the surgeon, who worked on lower limb reconstruction.
A further 39 patients came to moderate harm and 19 patients came to mild harm.
The study also reported that 642 patients did not come to harm that could be attributable to the surgeon.
The disgraced surgeon is understood to live abroad and no longer has a licence to practise medicine in the UK.
Children suffered chronic pain, deformities, permanent nerve damage and even an amputation after being operated on him.
Yaser Jabbar, 43, treated 721 children at London ‘s Great Ormond Street Hospital, leaving some with serious injuries, different leg lengths and even requiring amputation
A teenage boy was forced to have his leg amputated after he felt his bone ‘snap’ just months after surgeon Yaser Jabbar operated on it
Other patients have been left with drop foot – a debilitating condition where the foot cannot be pulled up and the sufferer must bring their leg up high when walking to avoid tripping over.
Some found themselves living with legs of different lengths by up to 20cm after going under Jabbar’s knife.
GOSH ordered a review by independent experts into the care of 721 patients who passed through Jabbar at the hospital.
A further 68 cases were later uncovered, bringing the total to 789.
Jabbar harmed between 85 and 100 children, the trust confirmed.
At least 32 of those suffered severe harm, meaning potentially lifelong deformities or chronic pain, 36 were left with moderate harm, and 18 cases were mild.
However, some families of the children who feature in the report have criticised it, and claimed that a ‘cover-up culture’ will obscure the truth.
Some accuse GOSH of ‘failing their children’, while others claimed the report – by external surgeons using patient notes – would leave more questions than answers.
Jabbar stopped treating patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital (pictured) in London in 2022 before leaving the hospital the following year
Pictured is the teenage boy after he had his leg amputated below the knee
One mother told the BBC last month: ‘Mr Jabbar was known for not writing up records or keeping notes correctly, but these reviews have been based on hospital notes.
‘My daughter’s report doesn’t reflect her journey at all.’
Jabbar stopped treating patients at the world-renowned hospital in 2022 after concerns were raised about his work.
He left GOSH in 2023 after a report by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found some surgeries had been ‘inappropriate’ and ‘incorrect’.
Jabbar subsequently moved to Dubai, where he continued to operate and claimed to be one of the most sought-after doctors in his field.
However, after the Daily Mail’s revelations, he was ditched as a speaker by a major conference and removed from hospitals websites that had celebrated him.
Following the 2023 review, GOSH promised that each of Jabbar’s patients would receive and independent report to conclude what level of harm they suffered at his hands.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital said earlier this month: ‘We are deeply sorry to all the children, young people and their families who have been affected by the actions of a surgeon working at GOSH between 2017 and 2022.
Great Ormond Street launched an urgent review of all the youngsters treated by former surgeon Yaser Jabbar (pictured) in its orthopaedic department
Dean Stalham’s daughter, six-year-old Bunty, underwent a number of operations of a 15-month period which all failed, leaving her in agony and taking strong pain relief for months
‘We have reviewed the care of every single child involved and our report will be shared with families this month before it is made public.’
One parent unhappy with the outcome of the reports into their child’s care was Dean Stalham, whose daughter Bunty was born with a rare bone disease which caused her left tibia to be bowed and short.
She had a genetic condition causing tumors to grow on her nerves.
Over a 15-month period, Bunty underwent a number of operations which all failed, leaving her in agony and taking strong pain relief for months.
Bunty finally had a below-knee amputation in May 2020 despite undergoing all the surgeries carried out by Jabbar, which included bone grafting, limb lengthening of the tibia and the use of frames.
In Bunty’s report, the physical impact on her was deemed ‘moderate’ – but her father told the BBC it was ‘simply wrong’.
He said the report claimed she underwent six operations – but he said the figure was actually 10.
‘Not a single one of Bunty’s surgeries worked, and none of them were of any benefit to her whatsoever,’ he told the BBC.
‘When they were trying to lengthen her leg they ended up shortening it by about eight inches.’
A teenager who suffered severe harm at Jabbar’s hands has now described how the ‘traumatic’ experience left him in ‘horrifying’ pain.
James Wood, 19, from Great Yarmouth, first encountered the surgeon when he was referred to him at the age of 12.
Mr Wood was born with multiple pterygium syndrome, a rare congenital condition that mainly affects neuromuscular and skeletal functions.
It causes skin webbing across the joints and in Mr Wood’s case, it limited movement in his knees and ankles.
He was referred to Jabbar in September 2018 and underwent an operation in April 2019 which saw a frame fixed to his leg with the aim of stretching the tissues in his knee. He also underwent an Achilles tendon lengthening procedure.
Just a few weeks later, Mr Wood began to suffer extreme pain and swelling in his right thigh. He went to his local hospital and was sent back to GOSH for review.
There, an ultrasound identified a large collection of fluid and a biopsy was performed.
Medics discovered that one of the pins used to secure the frame had protruded into Mr Wood’s thigh.
When it was removed, there was bleeding and surgeons noted damage to his femoral artery.
The frame was removed and Mr Wood was then placed in a permanent full-length leg cast to support his leg. He developed a deep pressure sore to his heel.
An independent review into his treatment ahead of Thursday’s Gosh report found ‘poor surgical skill’ by Jabbar had resulted in a pin going into Mr Wood’s thigh when the frame was fitted.
The study said the type of pins used had increased the risk of vascular injury and other pins should have been used.
Mr Wood, a student at the University of East Anglia, studying English literature and creative writing, said: ‘I was only 12 at the time so you just trust the doctors.
‘I was never right after I had that operation and was in pain from the moment the frame was put on me.
‘Rather than it getting better, it began to get worse. I would get these really intense fits of pain in my right thigh for about an hour at a time. It was the worst pain I had ever felt.
‘When I went back to hospital I was told there was a collection of fluid in my thigh. I remember them saying there was a lot of internal bleeding.
‘I then remember waking up from an operation and being told that a pin had nicked my femoral artery. I was told it had been an accident.
‘After the frame was eventually removed, I then had to have a cast on my leg. I was told to start trying to walk every day, but whenever I put pressure on my foot it would really hurt.
‘When the cast was removed, the back of my foot was rotten and it looked like the back of it had just been scraped off from the cast being too tight.
‘It halted me walking until it healed, and I had to return for a lot of appointments so they could keep cleaning it out.’
Mr Wood still struggles with movement but has delayed treatment to his other, left leg owing to the trauma he has experienced.
‘They tried to schedule an external fixator for my left leg, and I said no,’ he added.
‘I’m not letting them touch my legs again unless it’s vital, because I’m in university and I can’t handle a long recovery right now.
‘If I’m in a position to in the future, I’ll do the left one, but the past trauma with my right leg makes me hesitant to go through with it as I still can’t bend it more than 90 degrees and my right foot is a bit awkwardly positioned.
‘The back of my heel is mostly gone, so now my feet are drastically different sizes which makes walking and finding shoes difficult.
‘I struggle a lot with stairs because I have to use one leg at a time. Sometimes my right leg just gives out at the ankle. It makes it a lot harder to walk longer distances and I can be slow walking.
‘This experience has robbed me of my abilities from being 13. I’m still recovering to this day.
‘I missed a lot of my formative high school experiences and it left me quite lonely in my childhood because I spent my early teenage years in recovery.
‘It was all incredibly traumatic and the pain is still horrifying and has had a long-term impact.
‘To later find out that my surgeon was harming not only me, but many others, and was not stopped for many years, is abysmal. How can this ever have been allowed to happen?’
And the family of a 12-year-old boy who was harmed by Jabbar say he still suffers nightmares and will be affected for the rest of his life.
Vivaan Sharma was seven when Jabbar decided to carry out leg lengthening surgery on him.
Vivaan was born with a shortened and bowed right leg, which his family was told would lead to a leg length difference of around 9cm if it was not corrected.
Vivaan’s parents Viresh and Namarata said that after Jabbar carried out surgery in July 2021, they were shocked to find he had used a different frame to that commonly used for such procedures, and which they had expected.
An independent review ahead of Thursday’s GOSH’s report found Vivaan suffered ‘moderate harm’ and the surgery was ‘incorrect and unsuitable’, as the issue was too complex to resolve in a single procedure.
Vivaan’s family dispute the moderate harm finding.
Mr Sharma said: ‘The review has said that Vivaan has suffered moderate harm, and we think that’s nonsense, as it has affected his treatment and independence way beyond six months, which is how they class moderate harm in their review.
‘These independent experts have never spoken to Vivaan. They’ve not seen what we have seen, him waking up having nightmares about having more operations or needing to have another frame on his leg.
‘If they had reached out to Vivaan, they would see what he has been through and how he is today.
‘They wouldn’t have said he was moderately harmed then. Even today, after many operations, he walks with a limp. It impacts his self-confidence.
‘We’re talking about a boy who has been around hospitals all his life and has been badly let down.
‘He was just seven when he underwent surgery, which has now been found to have been completely unsuitable, with independent experts finding no justification for why he was subjected to it.
‘It’s appalling. Our boy will be affected for life.’
The review panel criticised Jabbar’s record-keeping and documentation, assessment, examination and diagnosis, decision-making and case selection.
It said his actions caused ‘both physical and psychological harm’ to Vivaan, leaving him with ‘postoperative deformity deemed unacceptable by other members of the team at GOSH’.
Vivaan has since undergone further corrective surgery under other surgeons at the hospital.
Mr Sharma believes he and his wife were amongst the first to raise concerns about Jabbar’s standard of practice and approach following the 2021 surgery.
They say the hospital did not act quickly enough to address the errors in his work.
Mr Shamra said: ‘In all of our meetings prior to Vivaan’s surgery, we were told a certain type of frame would be used to help rotation and lengthening, but when the procedure was done, a completely different frame was used. We were never told why, but it seemed strange.
‘We feared immediately that something was wrong, as when the swelling went down, we noticed a hard bump on the side of his leg and felt the bone. His foot didn’t seem to be at the right angle either.
‘When we raised this with Mr Jabbar, he said it was “part of the plan” and dismissed our concerns with a level of arrogance that I misunderstood at the time for my panic as a parent versus his depth and experience.
‘How wrong I was. I believed his words and dismissed Vivaan’s screams as we were turning the screws on his frame as part of the treatment which had been prescribed. I was later told by another consultant that he had nerves running across the break, which were being stretched and pulled.
‘I did my own research too as I was worried about the frame, so I contacted other specialist surgeons in this country and the United States who said that type of frame should not have been used.
‘The hospital repeatedly denied this. I also remember we were told by one of Mr Jabbar’s colleagues not to worry as he was “the frame guy” who knew what he was doing, and for us to relax as we were at Great Ormond Street. We were basically told they didn’t make mistakes.
‘It was only at a later stage, when Vivaan was in terrible pain, that we saw another consultant and the hospital admitted that the wrong frame had been used. I think the hospital failed completely its duty of care to patients.’
Mr Sharma says he first made complaints about Jabbar in August 2021.
GOSH commissioned a Royal College of Surgeons review in September 2022 and Mr Jabbar left the trust the following month.
The RCS concluded its findings in October 2023 and GOSH wrote to patients the following February.
Hudgell Solicitors represents Vivaan and is among those pursuing civil claims against Gosh.
Solicitor Caroline Murgatroyd said: ‘We were first instructed on cases relating to Mr Jabbar in 2023, and since the review of all cases was launched in September 2024, we have seen a continual flow of independent reports confirm to our clients that they were harmed at this surgeon’s hands.
‘The majority of our clients have been told they suffered severe or moderate harm.
‘These include cases where independent experts have reviewed the treatment and questioned the decision-making of Mr Jabbar in terms of treatments, and the standard of his surgeries.
‘We represent clients who suffered arterial bleeding after surgery, had unnecessary operations, and suffered nerve injuries and leg length discrepancies.
‘There have even been questions raised over amputation, and whether it was the right course of treatment. Children have suffered life-changing injuries.
‘The individual patient reports paint a picture of a man not following recognised procedures and treatments, being allowed to carry out surgeries without full and proper consideration or consultation with patients and colleagues, and then repeatedly operating to a very poor standard and causing harm.
‘This report may well offer reassurance that changes have been made to prevent this happening again, but this is of little comfort to so many children and parents who believed they were being treated in the best possible place.
‘It should never have been allowed to happen, and Great Ormond Street Hospital’s reputation will be tarnished for a long-time by this appalling situation.’
