Dr Pierina Kapur was disciplined following a catastrophic blunder on a 6 week old baby.  The baby was due to have a straightforward inguinal hernia repair operation but instead, the surgeon mistakenly removed 90% of the baby’s bladder, she cut a ureter (the tube which takes urine from the kidney to the bladder) and stitched up the baby’s urethra (the tube which takes urine from the bladder out the body). 

Dr Pierina Kapur is based at the Manchester Childrens’ Hospital and the Royal Bolton Hospital.  Following the operation, the baby became very poorly as she was unable to pass urine. 

The surgeon was completely unaware of the mistakes she had made, which were only discovered when further urgent exploratory surgery was carried out to see why the baby had not passed urine and had consequently become very poorly.  The baby will now have to use a catheter to pass water for the rest of her life and faces further surgery which carries a cancer risk.

The mistake by the surgeon was reported to the General Medical Council who investigated matters and then called a hearing to assess her fitness to practice.  This started on 22nd February and after 7 days of evidence, came to the decision that the surgeon’s actions went beyond mere negligence and was sufficiently serious to amount to misconduct.  The Panel went on to say that they felt this misconduct was sufficiently serious to amount to impairment and concluded that Miss Kapur’s fitness to practice is impaired.  The case has now been adjourned until 10th March 2010 when the Panel will make a decision in relation to what sanctions should be imposed on the surgeon.

BABY A’s parents said in response to this finding  “Our decision to involve the GMC in our daughter’s case was to ensure appropriate steps were taken to ensure public safety.  We feel that Miss Kapur has been made accountable for her actions.  We believe that she has been given a fair hearing.  We respect the decision made by the GMC panel and do now believe that Miss Kapur is truly sorry for the pain and suffering she has caused our daughter.  We now feel better placed to answer our daughter’s questions when they arise.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Hennayake and the other doctors and nurses from the urology team at Manchester Children’s Hospital involved in our daughter’s ongoing care.  Without their hard work, our daughter would not be here today.”

BABY A’s solicitor, Claire Horton of John Pickering and Partners LLP said “Baby A’s parents wanted the GMC to make an objective investigation into Miss Kapur’s competence.”

“Now that the GMC has made a decision about the surgeon’s conduct, the family can move on to recover the compensation that BABY A requires to  help improve her quality of life.  This has been substantially diminished by this terrible surgical mistake.  The doctor admitted during the course of the hearing that her surgery fell below the standards to be expected of a competent surgeon.  I will now thoroughly explore, with the help of medical experts, what BABY A’s future holds. We can then make sure that she receives the full amount of compensation that is owing to her as a result of this very sad case of medical negligence.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8546501.stm

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/5040599.Blunder_probe_surgeon_kept_job_at_hospital/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7359332/Surgeon-mistakenly-removed-90pc-of-babys-bladder.html

Further information:

Claire Horton, Solicitor
John Pickering and Partners LLP
Old Exchange Buildings
St Ann’s Passage                                                     
29/31 King Street
Manchester M2 6B

Freephone:    0808 144 0957
Fax:                0161 834 1505

E-mail:           hort@johnpickering.co.uk
Website:        www.johnpickering.co.uk

Notes

John Pickering and Partners LLP

About Us

Our clients are people who have suffered injury as a result of a medical accident in the UK.  We are clinical and medical negligence solicitors.  We handle negligence claims against hospitals, GP’s and other medical practitioners for clients across the UK. 

We try to obtain maximum amounts of compensation. 

We are committed to providing public funding (previously known as Legal Aid) and have a franchise from the Community Legal Services Commission.  This means that they have looked at the firm carefully and approved of the way we work.  They consider that we are medical negligence claims specialists.  They trust us to handle medical accident claims properly. 

If you are not eligible for public funding, we can offer a Conditional Fee Agreement, also known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement with insurance.  We shall check the best method of funding your claim. 

All 3 of our offices (Liverpool, Manchester and Halifax) are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. 

Claire Horton is an experienced clinical negligence solicitor who is based in our Manchester office.  She continues to practice as an independent funding ajudicator for the Legal Services Commission and acts on a pro-bono basis for the AvMA helpline.

For further advice on medical negligence in Liverpool please also contact Rachel Donovan and for Halifax contact Ruth Davies, who are both experienced in the field of clinical negligence.

We provide free initial advice to people seeking information about a potential clinical negligence claim. 

If you need advice about a clinical negligence claim, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.