Dr Yaser Jabbar: Family say surgeon was ‘trying to save a leg that couldn’t be saved’
The father of a six-year-old girl who was operated on by former surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar multiple times over 15 months is among the first to be told she suffered harm during her care.
Dean Stalham’s daughter Bunty was born with the rare bone condition neurofibromatosis.
It means she has been in and out of hospital since she was 18 months old but was placed under the care of the former consultant orthopaedic surgeon in 2018.
During her time in Dr Jabbar’s care at Great Ormond Street Hospital, her family say she underwent multiple “unsuccessful and painful” procedures which ultimately led to her leg being amputated below the knee.
The hospital is reviewing the care of hundreds of children seen by Dr Jabbar.
Read more:
Child, 11, in wheelchair after surgery – as doctor accused of ‘inappropriate’ operations
Some 700 cases are being investigated in total and a select number of families have heard back already, including Bunty’s.
The review of her care – shown to Sky News – revealed that she had suffered moderate physical and mild psychological harm.
Speaking to Sky News, her father Dean Stalham said: “He [Dr Jabbar] was trying to save a leg that couldn’t be saved.
“He took it upon himself to be the almighty saviour of the leg, as it were, and it proves that they were all unnecessary because they all failed – and what it says in the report is that there’s no benefit, not one operation was of any benefit to Bunty whatsoever.”
Mr Stalham added: “He was all smiles and success – coming in and saying I’ve lengthened her leg, it’s great, it’s longer than the other one, it was all a big major success and then out of the blue – actually no it hasn’t worked.”
Dr Jabbar no longer works at the hospital and has not had a licence to practise medicine in the UK since January.
Dean Stalham and Bunty
Bunty’s leg was eventually amputated in 2022. Her father says it should have happened sooner and saved her from prolonged pain.
“We think that she thought her leg was going to grow back, in her head, because she was told it was a healthy bone… she thought her leg was going to regrow. He sold her a dream.
“After the eventual amputation, he came out of that operation and said right I’ve left a three-inch piece of lovely, healthy bone hanging from her knee, it will mean she will have mobility. Then two weeks later, the bone’s veering off to the left.”
An external report – commissioned by Great Ormond Street – into Dr Jabbar’s practices and the wider department, is due to be sent to the families of those affected who wish to see it.
They have been told it will be redacted in places.
Caroline Murgatroyd, from Hudgell Solicitors, is representing some of them.
Read more:
Children left in pain by surgeon’s ‘inappropriate and unnecessary’ operations
“Bunty’s case has similarities to others we have seen – which is a pattern of poor decision making, failure to consider alternatives to the surgery and failure to discuss with parents the risks and benefits to different treatment options and whether any particular treatment is really in the patient’s best interest.”
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children said in a statement: “We wish to say we are deeply sorry to Bunty and her family, and all the families impacted by the review of care given by a Lower Limb Orthopaedic surgeon. This is not what they should expect from any service at our hospital.
“Within 18 working days of concerns being raised to senior leaders about the Lower Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Service, we asked the Royal College of Surgeons to carry out a review into our Paediatric Orthopaedic service in July 2022.
“We are now ensuring that all the findings are addressed at pace.”
Dr Jabbar has since been working in Dubai, but Sky News understands he has been suspended.
In a statement shared with Sky News, a spokesperson from CMC Hospital Dubai said: “We have been made aware of recent reports concerning allegations of misconduct and malpractice involving a physician employed at our hospital.
“We took immediate action to suspend the physician. We are awaiting the relevant authorities’ decisions on the matter.”
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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