Dr Yaser Jabbar: Mother says daughter, 11, had to use wheelchair after procedure with surgeon accused of ‘inappropriate’ operations
The mother of a young girl treated by a surgeon accused of carrying out “inappropriate and unnecessary” operations has told Sky News her daughter had to use a wheelchair for nearly two years after surgery.
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has launched an investigation into the cases of 721 children after an expert review found Dr Yaser Jabbar was alleged to have caused “serious harm” through “unacceptable” treatment, according to a lawyer acting for families of some of the young patients.
Now Claire Osborne, whose daughter Ella underwent corrective surgery on her leg by Dr Jabber in the summer of 2020, has called on a 2023 expert report by the Royal College of Surgeons to be made public.
Dr Yasser Jabbar. Pic: Linkedin
It comes as Duabi’s CMC Hospital – where Dr Jabbar has recently worked – confirmed it had suspended the surgeon.
Ella was 11 years old when she had the operation under Dr Jabbar after she developed a condition called genu valgum, in which the knees tilt inward while the ankles remain apart. She also has multiple complex needs.
She had already undergone the same corrective procedure with a different doctor, but her recovery after the second operation was more painful and took longer.
Ella had a second corrective surgery on her leg in 2020 under Dr Jabbar
“She just kept saying to me all the time, ‘Mum, it hurts, it hurts’. And the way she was walking was so strange. It was like her knees were overlapping and they were clicking for every step she took,” Ms Osborne said.
“At one point she would do 10 miles on the bike and it got to the point where she couldn’t even walk around a supermarket with me.”
Ella was also forced to rely on a wheelchair during this time, and Ms Osborne and her husband could also feel a screw from a plate inserted in Ella’s leg through her skin.
“Ella was just so miserable. She was in pain. You can feel it as a parent – you know how a child is normally and you know when there’s something wrong.”
Read more: Children left in pain by surgeon’s ‘inappropriate and unnecessary’ operations
Ms Osborne says she consistently raised concerns about her daughter’s recovery, with Dr Jabbar telling her in a follow-up appointment: “If I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be worried.”
After consulting a private surgeon, Ms Osborne asked for a second opinion, and soon after Ella had a third corrective surgery by another doctor at Great Ormond Street.
Ms Osborne said that the surgeon “called it a miraculous correction”.
“What she did, the angle at which she corrected Ella’s leg, was huge.”
Ella and her mother Claire, who said she was ‘frustrated’ by not knowing what was in the expert review
Now, Ms Osborne is calling for a 2023 Royal College of Surgeons review – conducted before the review in which Ella’s initial operation was one of 721 cases examined – to be made public.
“Without knowing facts, without knowing what, why, where, when you’re still kind of in limbo. Because this report’s out there. You know, it says things, but you don’t know what,” she said.
“It’s frustrating because obviously if the hospital had known that things were going on prior to Ella being treated, maybe Ella could have been saved.
“Without knowing what the hospital knew from the report, we’ll never know.”
Ella is one of 721 patients reviewed by the Royal College of Surgeons
Of the 42 cases looked at as part of the GOSH probe so far, 22 children are believed to have come to harm as a result of operations Dr Jabbar carried out.
Ms Osborne has now set up a support group for other families who have been affected.
Amy Kirk, an associate at Fletchers Solicitors – a firm that is representing some of the families involved – said: “It’s really important the review is given to the families in full as they are already not feeling heard [and that] the report is released in a timely fashion and that a full investigation is done.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children said: “We know that the patients and families affected will be extremely distressed by the issues raised by the review we commissioned into our orthopedic service.
“This is not what they should expect from any service at our hospital. To all of them we wish to say we are deeply sorry.
“As we complete case reviews, the outcomes of these will be shared with the patient and their family, regardless of whether harm has been found or not.
“As we have said previously, we will share a summary of the report in our public board, but we will be sharing it first with our families.”
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Dr Jabbar, who qualified from St George’s Hospital Medical School in London, was registered with a licence to practise until January of this year, according to the General Medical Council website.
GOSH said he had not worked there since 2022. The Sunday Times reported he only stepped down from his role last September after an 11-month sabbatical on full pay.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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