A mum of two has told how she had a tear gland removed instead of a brain tumour by a bungling surgeon.
Muftah Salem Eljamel was allowed to operate on Jules Rose despite bosses already having concerns about him, it is claimed in a BBC documentary.
Jules says the professor then tried to cover up his mistake by calling her in for a second operation, telling her part of the tumour still had to be removed.
Jules Rose after the surgeon mistakenly removed a tear duct
(Image: UGC)
BBC Scotland’s Disclosure will tonight reveal how a Royal College of Surgeons’ report had condemned Eljamel’s work.
NHS Tayside told the programme, Harmed By My Surgeon, they first became aware of concerns in June 2013 and took “immediate action”, placing Eljamel “under supervision” while they reviewed his work.
Jules tells the BBC she was operated on by Eljamel in August 2013 – a month after he was placed under supervision due to serious concerns about his work.
Marathon runner Jules, 50, had a brain tumour diagnosed after she sought laser eye correction in 2013.
She thought she was in the hands of the best surgeon in Scotland and it was only after checking her file that she learned he had wrongly identified the tear gland as a tumour.
Marathon runner Jules Rose thought she was in the hands of the best surgeon in Scotland
(Image: UGC)
Jules, who works with people with additional support needs, has been left with dry eyes and unable to wear contact lenses. She fears she will suffer future eye problems.
She is among a raft of patients of Eljamel, 61, under the spotlight in the Disclosure programme.
Jules, who is now suing Eljamel, said: “This man was meant to be working under supervision at the time he operated on me, owing to earlier complaints. But I have no evidence of any other surgeon acting as a supervisor in any of the notes.
“I feel I’m one of the lucky ones, that it could have been a lot worse for me. I am very angry.”
Jules, from Kinross, said Eljamel should have done the operation immediately but it was 13 weeks before the botched surgery took place at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
She said: “After the first operation he said he had taken out 99 per cent of the tumour.
“I was delighted and I told him he was my hero. I sent him a ‘thank you’ card and I thought I was in the very best of hands.
Jules Rose’s MRI scan shows the tumour but the surgeon removed a tear duct by mistake
(Image: UGC)
“No one told me he was under investigation at any time. He had me back in and said some of the tumour was hiding behind my lacrimal gland but the truth is that he had cut out the wrong tissue the first time round.”
Jules added: “I checked my case notes and I could see that the tissue that was cut out was not the tumour, it was normal tissue, but he didn’t want me to know that.”
Jules slammed the health board who allowed him to continue to practise.
She said: “It’s atrocious. For NHS Tayside to allow this surgeon, who had blatantly made a mistake the first time, to allow him to perform another complex operation is unthinkable. It’s not acceptable.”
Eljamel has left his home in Newport-on-Tay and applied for his Edinburgh neurosurgery business to be struck off and dissolved.
We told in 2015 how the doctor had set up a neurosurgery business in America
We told in 2015 how he had set up a neurosurgery business in America, where he is understood to have property. He is also thought to have links to the Philippines.
Eljamel, 61, remains the subject of ongoing civil cases in relation to surgery carried out during his time with NHS Tayside which are still going through the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
NHS Tayside said they had “taken appropriate action” to support the patient. They said there has been “much learning”, “many improvements” made and that the board “complies with all national standards relating to spinal surgery”.
Eljamel’s lawyer told BBC Scotland his client had “no comment to make”.
●Disclosure is on tonight at 7.30pm on BBC1.
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