Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London is overseeing an urgent review of more than 700 of its patients’ cases after serious concerns were raised regarding the practices of one of its former surgeons.

The hospital, which is ranked as one of the top six children’s units in the world and the best outside of north America, has had to act after it emerged that “severe lifelong harm” had come to some who were treated by consultant orthopaedic doctor Yaser Jabber, with one in particular undergoing an “avoidable limb amputation”.

Jabbar’s behaviour became a concern after the hospital asked the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) to investigate the performance of its paediatric surgery department and patient outcomes back in 2022, after staff and families voiced concerns about the quality of care it provided and the failure to respond to their complaints.

The accused surgeon is now understood to be working in Dubai, but remained on full pay for 11 months after he stopped working for the trust. 

Harm caused to more than half cases reviewed so far

Yaser Jabbar worked at the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service from 2017 until he stepped down in September last year.

The external review that was carried out on the care of 39 of 721 patients investigated, found that 22 of these came to some degree of harm, 13 of which were described as “severe harm”, with the other nine suffering “low/moderate harm”.

Shocking findings

The RCS found that the orthopaedic surgery department of GOSH was “dysfunctional”, and that the trust was run “like a political organisation”, with consultants behaving in ways that were “outdated”, “unacceptable” and “hierarchical”.

Parents were said to have been left “terrified” by Jabbar and the investigation discovered that in many cases alternative surgeons had been sought out to treat their children.

Hospital committed to taking action

A spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement: “As part of the review, the RCS raised concerns around the practice of a surgeon who no longer works at the trust and we take these concerns incredibly seriously.

“We’ve contacted all patients of the surgeon and a group of independent experts from other paediatric hospitals are reviewing the care of all the patients of this surgeon.”

They promised to take action very quickly: “We will ensure that all the findings of this review are addressed at pace and we will reflect on any wider learnings around our culture.”

Unnecessary procedures performed

Children were left with various issues as a result of Jabber’s treatment, with in one case a youngster’s leg ending up 20cm shorter than the other.

Many more remained in chronic pain years after their treatment, and one had a limb amputated which was a procedure that several experts were of an opinion, should have been avoided.

Parents concerns ignored

The report, which was written following the investigation undertaken by the RCS, has not yet been made public, but a leaked copy is understood to have uncovered a leg-straightening and lengthening surgery conducted by Mr Jabbar on one child – a six-year-old boy – to be “incorrect and unsuitable”.

The child’s parents insisted that they feared something was wrong, but when they raised it with Mr Jabbar he was “very dismissive”. Yet after gaining separate opinions from other specialists, it was found that the frame used for the lengthening was the wrong type.

They said that after a couple of days the frame became loose and the child was in a lot of pain. “You could feel the bone in his leg, which felt out of position, like it wasn’t lined up and was protruding the wrong way,” said the boy’s father.

Legal team predict huge compensation demands

Solicitor, Caroline Murgatroyd, who represents some former patients, said initial findings by the RCS painted a very worrying picture of the treatment provided to children by Mr Jabbar. She noted that the report underlined how assessments, examinations, clinical decision-making; indeed most of the general treatment of patients, were all shown to be unacceptable.

She added that it was clear that there had been poor communication with families with regards to consent seeking and information of potential complications with the surgeries. She believes that GOSH could be subject to multiple expensive demands. “From the cases we have seen details on, it appears the hospital may be facing many claims for compensation,” she said.

Over 170 years old

Great Ormond Street is the largest centre for child heart surgery in Britain, the most extensive centre for research and postgraduate teaching in children’s health in Europe, and one of the biggest centres for heart transplantation in the world.

It was founded back in 1852 and sees around 76,000 children each year.

Sixth best in the world

In a recent exercise to rank the worlds best specialized children’s hospitals for 2024, it came in sixth for health facilities that perform cardiology, oncology, pediatrics, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology.

It was the highest ranking hospital in Europe and only behind hospitals in Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago, out of anywhere in the world. The list is based on a global survey, to which tens of thousands of medical professionals (doctors, health care professionals and hospital managers) were invited to participate.

Blame accepted

With this in mind, this scandal will be hugely damaging for the reputation of the hospital. A further statement from a GOSH spokesperson said: “We are committed to learning from every single patient that we treat, and to being open and transparent with our families when care falls below the high standards we strive for.”

They went on to say that they accept the findings by the RCS in full and are taking steps to act on all its recommendations.

Accused dOctor still performing surgeries in other part of world

With regards to Dr Jabber the statement confirmed that the were taking the concerns around his work very seriously. “We have contacted all patients of the surgeon and a group of independent experts from other paediatric hospitals are reviewing the care of all the patients of this surgeon.

“We are incredibly sorry for the worry and uncertainty this review may cause them; to all of them, we wish to convey our sincere apologies.”

Accused doctor still performing surgeries in other part of the world

The medical register shows that Mr Jabbar has not had a licence to practise medicine in the UK since January of this year.

He now lives in the United Arab Emirates, where he appears at conferences and works at Clemenceau private hospital in Dubai, where he seemingly continues to operate on children.