Doctor negligence during operation

A surgeon has been struck off the medical register after continuing to operate on a patient who lost two-and-a-half litres of blood in a botched operation.

German doctor Werner Kolb was said to have "ploughed on regardless despite the warning signs" and swore in his native language during the hip procedure on 94-year-old Ena Dickinson.

Ms Dickinson, a former nurse, lost the blood after the doctor cut through a muscle and created an incision in the femoral artery.

The patient, who fell often, had suffered a fracture to her left femur and was admitted to Grantham and District Hospital in August 2008.

She died weeks after the operation.

A General Medical Council Fitness to Practise panel ruled Dr Kolb, 51, persisted with the surgery despite experiencing difficulty from the outset and ignored verbal warnings that he was causing harm to Ms Dickinson.

He also failed to communicate with colleagues and ask for assistance which led to unnecessary serious physical harm being caused to the patient, the panel added.

Although it was an isolated incident it was "particularly grave" and the panel, sitting in Manchester, was not satisfied he would not repeat his failings and still posed a risk to patients.

Copyright © Press Association 2010

Beth Reay from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “The majority of surgery carried out in this country is of a very high standard; unfortunately we continue contacted by a number of patients who have suffered an unnecessary injury as a result of inadequately performed surgery, which can increase their recovery time or in the worst cases leave them with permanent irreversible disabilities.